Never Meant To Belong
by CMinuteByMinute
Summary: HIATUS. As missing-nin and only female of the Seven Swordsmen, life was simple - survive. But Rin had no idea what part she would have to play later, when a blond Taicho came along.
1. Aftermath

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I feel pretty glad I had this idea walking into my head randomly one day... here is the result! The updates will probably not be very quick, but better late than never, ne?

DISCLAIMER: I do not feel confident enough to say that I own 'Bleach' and 'Naruto' without being terrefied of finding the FBI at my door. So therefore, I state that I do not own anything in this besides my OC and her stuff.

**- To Mia, for teaching me the brilliance of dancing in public.**

* * *

Four figures ran across the snow covered ground without making a sound with a large, grey furred wolf running beside the front runner. Three of them were wearing white cloaks and were chasing the fourth, which were clothed in black and light blue. The three had their face covered by white masks with animal faces painted upon the surface while the lone one had scratched out Kirigakure headband with black cloth placed askew on the head and bandages wrapped around the lower half of her face, Momochi Zabuza style. The person also had a small scroll tied in a string to her belt as well as a long, strange looking sword strapped to the back.

The blade was flammard, had a dark grey, dull color and was four-edged like a rhomb. It was a little more than six and a half foot long and relatively slender, with the four-edged blade being around two inches wide, each side an inch in length.

Around the blade were two others wrapped around it, crossing each other's path. It looked like two snakes had been wrapped around the middle blade. They were smaller and thinner and their color was a dull black. They were made from bending-steel, meaning the wielder could use their chakra to change the blades' form. It was uniquely made for Kizuken Kūseido and so far, only one person beside the woman, whom was its current wielder, had seen it in action without giving their life for it.

The two feet long hilt was wrapped in black leather bands.

Kizuken Kūseido was not the largest or heaviest sword out of the seven that made up the Seven Swords of the Swordsmen, but it was just as deadly, especially with the unique origin of the outer blades. The dull colors made it better for stealth and sneak attacks, since neither sun nor moonlight would reflect off the blade and thereby giving away the wielder's position.

"Incoming chakra signatures from the east, Akashura-sama," The wolf said and the black clothed head snapped in the direction the canine had appointed as the person continued running, picking up speed and increasing the distance between the pursuers and the pursued.

"How long, Kyōto?" The one in the back spoke in a female voice as her beige colored eyes looked sharply around her.

"Thirty seconds at the most. There's no way we can outrun them."

"I can smell them; their killing intent is strong and their chakra is powerful, Taichō." Another, raspy voice spoke.

"Kyōto, save yourself for later. Shinja, stop calling me Taichō; it's annoying."

The wolf barked once in agreement and disappeared with in a large cloud of smoke, obeying his master.

"Taichō?" the raspy voice spoke again. It sounded as if it was coming from inside of her.

She growled in annoyance, but chose to ignore the continuing use of her old rank; there were more important things to focus on.

"Let us make this quick, ne," the Taichō answered with a wary tone in her slightly hoarse, but clear voice.

As she continued running at the same neck-breaking speed, she raised a pair of gloved hands and made several hand signs before releasing her jutsu.

"Secret Art: Hidden Shadow Spears"

She heard the screams of the Yuki ANBU being impaled behind her and a small smirk crossed her face as she felt her three pursuers' chakra signatures drop and then disappear completely.

"They're here," the raspy voice hissed suddenly.

The second the voice had finished speaking, two clouds of smoke appeared and two men stepped out to reveal an identical pair of black cloaks with crimson clouds. Even without the cloaks, the scratched out headbands along with the density and amount of their chakra were dead giveaways for determining S-ranked criminals.

"Looks like we missed all the fun," the silver-haired one of them said in a displeased, arrogant tone, reminding the woman of a spoiled child "This is not my fucking day."

"Shut up, Hidan," the other said with irritation evident in his voice "Or I will cut off your obnoxious head and kill you."

"Che," the one named Hidan huffed with arrogance "I'd love to see you fucking do it, Kakuzu."

"There is no doubt about it's the one," the other remarked "Her chakra levels are as high as a jinchuuriki. Just like Kisame-san informed us."

The woman growled lowly in her throat at the name of her rival; their dislike for each other had been legendary, even amongst the Swordsmen, who were know for their internal rivalry and competitive minds. Kakuzu pulled out a scroll from his pocket and opened it, not paying attention to the way the missing nin's hand was inching its way towards the hilt of the sword strapped to her back.

"Akashura Rin, Missing nin from Kiri, former Shushō of Kiri ANBU's Stealth Squad, a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist."

Hidan smirked as he looked at the woman in front of him. This was going to be fun. Then he looked at her wary figure.

"As if," he sorted "She looks like a push-over."

"Don't waste too much time, Hidan. I want to get another bounty after this one."

Rin was getting thoroughly pissed. If there were one thing she hated, it was being underestimated. Her eyes shone above her mask and were intently watching the Akatsuki members, waiting for them to make the first move. Her insides

"You are such a money whore, Kakuzu." Hidan snickered "What the fuck?" he then exclaimed as the former Shushō in front of them disappeared.

"This is what happens when you talk too much, Hidan." Kakuzu said as he extended long threads from his arms and pierced them through the snow.

Rin growled lowly in irritation from her hiding place beneath the snow as she felt her glove being pierced and her hand being shallowly cut with the thread-like tentacles. She jumped up and a few drops of blood ran down her hand and tainted the pure snow with droplets of crimson.

"Secret Art: Cutting Bonds" she said as she appeared behind the Akatsuki members and simultaneously sent a barrage of senbon rapidly flying towards the pair.

"What the fuck is that!" Hidan yelled as he saw the black lines snaking their way across the snow heading towards him, not paying any attention to the senbon that were flying towards him.

He grunted in pain as a few of them hit him. Rin's jaw was close to dropping as she saw how he pulled them out and his wounds began healing themselves.

Kakuzu and Hidan easily jumped out of the way from the shadows, using quick footwork and the Body Flicker technique.

"Water Release: Geyser Prison" she released the jutsu on the Jashinist, whose eyes narrowed angrily as water erupted from around him, immobilizing him.

Kakuzu was impressed with her strategy; she had quickly figured out the need to separate them.

"You actually think… unlike my partner," he said as he landed in front of her with a Body Flicker and aimed a roundhouse quick to her bandaged face. She stopped it effortlessly with her arm and pulled up her knee to block his fist from crushing her ribs.

Kakuzu released his Earth Grudge Fear and let his arms extend away from his body in an attempt to snap Rin's neck without damaging her too much. She would need to be recognizable for them to be able to collect the bounty after all. She Body Flicked away from him with the threads quickly following her every move. Kakuzu growled as she pulled the long sword from her back and started slashing his threads, effectively cutting them with as much skill and precision as one could expect from one of the Seven Swordsmen. Or _swordswoman _in this case.

He felt anger rushing through him and released all of his threads, but the fighting woman either deflected or cut off them all. She could definitely give Kisame a run for his money with her sword, but she was a lot faster. His threads barely had time to attack her before she was somewhere else. Hidan had now escaped the prison technique, but was instantly caught by the shadow bonds not far away and was roaring loudly in pain as the bonds pierced several inches into his flesh.

"Kakuzu, get me out of these shitty shadows," he said, then began laughing like a madman "I'm gonna make her into the best sacrifice Jashin-sama has ever seen."

Rin felt her stomach drop as she saw how the Jashinist escaped her bonds and cackled loudly. If she had not been so focused on keeping herself alive, she would have punched his lights out from pure annoyance.

The Jashinist threw his scythe at her with precision, though it was far too slow to make any actual damage to someone of her speed. She somersaulted over Hidan's weapon and landed in a crouch.

"End this quickly." she whispered before Body Flickering away with neither of the two missing nins having realized what she had done.

She eyed the silver-haired Jashinist intently as she dashed forward and slashed his left underarm off in a clean, powerful strike and then jumped away to a safer distance.

Hidan cried out in surprise well as anger and pain as he dropped his scythe, blood literally pouring out from his arm, "I'll kill you, bitch! That fucking hurt!"

Having seen his strange healing abilities earlier on, she quickly moved behind him and sliced attempted to slice his head off, but the silver haired male jumped out of the way.

"Now, Shinja!" she yelled over the snow-covered steppes as Kakuzu extended his threads to rescue his partner.

The former Takigakure shinobi's eyes widened and he grunted in surprise as a long, black snake appeared out from its hiding place beneath the camouflaging snow and sprung to latch itself onto Kakuzu's leg with its fangs ready to cut deeply into his skin and deliver its deadly poison.

Kakuzu Body Flickered away quicker than the blink of an eye.

He quickly sent threads flying after his partner, whom had picked up his scythe and was fighting off the woman and sent others to fend off the snake, which proved to more difficult than he thought when he was not able to clearly see it; its black scales were effectively concealing it amongst the moving lines of shadows, which were still somehow trying to incapacitate him.

Rin read the situation and did a single hand sign with a smirk spreading beneath her mask, not visible to anyone else. An ear shattering roar of thunder could be heard and a huge lightning bolt was sent flying from the sky, hitting Hidan. Pieces of rock and dirt were sent flying everywhere and she felt Shinja crawl up her body and sneak around her arms inside her sleeves.

She threw a series of kunai before releasing another jutsu.

"Secret Art: Black Dragon of Destruction"

She directed her hands and sent the roaring dragon flying into the crater, where all of the snow now had been melted away by the heat.

Rin suddenly felt a mass of chakra behind her and heard the sound of something flying through the air. She turned around and jumped backwards, but gasped as she felt the scythe slash her right leg, cutting shallowly into the flesh and growled in both pain and anger as the scythe she had originally dodged disappeared with a poof of smoke.

Her eyes widened as she saw the Jashinist with charred skin and a pattern of crimson as well as black burns. There were actual pieces of his body that were missing and chunks of flesh that had been burned away. She narrowed her sand-colored orbs as he licked the blood of the steel blades and then her mouth opened in horror as his body started to change color, his pale skin turned pitch black with white skeletal marks.

She was dashing towards him with her long sword prepared to cut the silver haired male's head clean off when she suddenly fell down and tumbled in the snow. Blood was seeping through her uniform and she raised her head to angrily glare at the Jashinist.

A devilish, manically grin spread across his face.

"Finally caught you, bitch."

* * *

"At least she is recognizable," she heard Kakuzu mutter irritably.

Rin hissed as she tried to move. Needless to say, she failed miserably. She clenched her jaw and made a choking sound as she stifled what would have been a scream of pain.

Her body shook and cramped which only increased the pain for her. She panted heavily and fought to keep her eyes open. Her attacker was kneeling next to her with a sadistic glint in his magenta eyes.

"Fucking bastard…" she managed to get out between her choking.

His smirk grew as she coughed up a pool of blood that stained her face bandages and seeped through, the crimson staining her tanned skin and trickled down her chin and neck.

She was laying on her back with her dark red hair spread out, which had now turned even darker due to the masses of blood in it and her bright, sand colored eyes.

"A Shushō defeated so easily?" He shifted his gaze over her form. "I knew Kiri people tended to exaggerate, but this is just fucking pathetic,"

"Hurry up, Hidan." Kakuzu said, not wanting to waste any time "Just kill the girl."

Hidan swore under his breath at the older man and then let his eyes roam over her body and face with a glint in his magenta orbs.

"Like hell, Kakuzu; this is so much fun," He bent down and licked blood from her chin before whispering huskily in her ear "And you're fucking hot."

A thought then occurred to the halfway dead Rin. Shinja's venom would be giving her the chance of a quicker death than the one Hidan would have given her. Probably not less painful but quicker none the less; that sadistic fucker was loudly planning how to make this last for hours.

There was no reason to drag out the pain; she felt like she was going to go insane in agony every second now. Having spent your life training and caring for a snake which could kill a human in less than twenty minutes certainly had paid off.

Rin spoke out her plan to her companion in pained but unnoticeable breaths as Hidan were again laughing manically. She felt how Shinja were sneaking beneath her clothes to rest on her torso before letting her fangs pierce directly into the beating heart.

* * *

Numbness. She felt numb. How was it possible? Was she dead? She opened her eyes. No. She couldn't be dead. She could move and breathe.

Was this that so called _Heaven _one of her acquaintances had once spoken of? No, she did not believe such illogical things. But how could she have survived? She remembered having Shinja's fangs pierce through her skin and then the pain. She knew more than anyone just how effective the venom of a snake of his caliber was. Especially one as healthy as Shinja himself; there was simply no way anyone who had had injected the venom would live to see another day. The venom in single bite was enough to kill roughly one hundred people and she had ordered Shinja to inject five times the amount he usually did to their enemies. Then why?

She raised her upper body and looked around. Hidan and Kakuzu were staring at her, but not really seeing her. Their eyes had not even moved as she had raised herself.

What was going on? Should her killers not at least show some emotion when someone whom they had brutally murdered were moving around?

She was immediately on her guard, watching the two of them with wary eyes.

They were looking right through her.

She then noticed several things at the same time.

Her wounds had healed, she was not in any pain, except for a strange pressure on her torso, she still had her weapons and Shinja was still alive somehow, at this moment curling his scaled form around her arm, her clothes were in perfect condition and there was no blood on her. She very slowly turned her head to look at what was behind her the two Akatsukis were staring so intently at.

And then wished she had not.

* * *

With her still having her bandages wrapped around her lower face, you could not see it, but Rin was staring shocked with her mouth open at the place Hidan and Kakuzu had previously occupied before the older had slung her body over his shoulder and both had disappeared to collect the bounty on her head seconds ago.

She was trying hard to not lose her mind. If she was dead, how come she could still have her body?

But what made it even more confusing was this wasn't even an actual body; no one could see her. She had noticed a chain had somehow been placed on her chest and back.

She heard the faintest sound behind her and pulled out her sword as she swirled around and Body Flickered forward in a blurring move.

She narrowed her eyes as her sword was met with the blade of another and she quickly Body Flickered away with the strange chain rattling and crouched in a defensive position with her long sword turned backwards in her hand, the blade following the line of her forearm and she had her index and middle finger raised in front of her face. She was ready to attack at a moment's notice and was already going through several battle strategies in her head.

"Yare, yare," the person who had startled her spoke as she noticed the figure, which was standing where she had been less than a second before "Could ya please lower ya sword?"

Rin said nothing, but continued to glare at the blond haired man. He was wearing a black kosode with a white haori over it and a pair of wide, black hakama. His eyed had that same bored look as Kakuzu.

Not pleasant reminders to see minutes after you have died.

"Who are you?" Rin asked, her voice having its usual authorial even tone even though she had her face bandages on and sent out a small warning flare of chakra.

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he felt a strange pressure appear then disappear as swiftly as it had come. It faintly reminded him of reiatsu, but still he got the feeling it was something else entirely.

"Hirako Shinji," the man said in a somewhere between polite and bored tone, but stood his ground. Most likely he knew better than to stroll over to a woman whom had her swords raised against him "What's ya name?"

Rin did not reply but continued to watch the man named Hirako carefully, taking in his appearance and carefully analyzing the katana, which were hanging by his hip.

"What happened to me?" she asked, carefully eying his movements.

Rin had already established the fact that she should avoid engaging in close-combat with him. His katana was more appropriate for that type of fighting unlike her sword, Kizuken Kūseido, which was meant for assassinations and quick kills when the enemy was unaware. It would in this case give her a disadvantage. Of course, her skills with it would easily outmaneuver practically everyone, but there was something about that Hirako that put her on edge and had all of her instincts screaming at her that he was a threat.

He looked like he was some years older than her, probably in his early or mid twenties, and carried an aura of authority around him, which she found similar to her own. Hirako smirked and he tilted his head a little to one side, his long, blond hair moving as the wind blew.

"Ya are a soul," he stated simply, as if the fact in itself was the most obvious and boring thing ever "Ya died. And when humans die, they become souls."

Rin narrowed her eyes as she thought carefully about his words. Was he mocking her?

She was not able to read him, not from this distance at least, but she could use more than just her eyes to see through lies.

His voice had a conviction and was without deception and his body language was showing no signs of lies either. He did not seem like he was lying to her. Not right now, at least.

"Let's just pretend that what you are saying is true. What are you doing here?" she asked, still not having lowered her guard the least.

Hirako rolled his eyes. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

Shinji had been annoyed, to put it mildly, when he was informed by the Sōtaichō about his newest mission. Special konsō? Was that even a word? Besides, he was a taichō for crying out loud and the fact that he was now in some godforsaken place, which by the way were located in some crappy far corner of the world of the living, with nothing to look at besides snow, ice, snow and… more snow and ice did not improve his mood.

He had more important thing to do than going after some weird reiatsu and send it to Soul Society.

Like keeping an eye on his fukutaichō, to name one thing.

He felt a spark of reiatsu somewhere close by and had determined it to be the soul he had to perform a konsō on. However, this excuse of a mission was turning into something far more interesting than he had thought it to be when he arrived.

The first thing he noticed as he was using shunpo to quickly cover the snow covered plains was the familiar, unmistakable, coppery scent of blood. He increased his pace and short after arrived at what had clearly been a battlefield. Blood was spattered all across the planes and there were several places where the ground had been torn up and the snow melted away, as if there had been several small explosions.

However, the most noticeable was the mangled and bloody heap there was laying crumbled in a sea of blood with two large, cloaked men standing beside. The larger of the duo unceremoniously grabbed the corpse and put it on his shoulder and then they disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Shinji noticed a soul staring after them, a young woman. Obviously, it was the soul of the corpse.

He took a soundless step forward and quickly raised his sword just in time to block a large sword from impaling him.

Before he could strike back or even move, the soul that had attacked him was out of range, crouched in a defensive position.

'_This is so not my day…'_

* * *

Once Shinji had managed to convince the woman to hear him out, he told her patiently about what was happening and what Soul Society was. She only asked very few questions, but the ones she spoke were insightful and intelligent. He told her about Shinigami, their ranks and their duties. Somewhere along she had turned the questions a little and Shinji found himself talking about himself and his life. He asked her questions in return and she answered. He later realized she had not actually told him anything and he still knew the same about her before as he did after he had questioned her.

He had also seen she had at least three tattoos when she briefly had removed her short, black outer cloak to readjust the strap for her sword. On her right shoulder were two swirled lines, and when he asked her about them, she told him about it representing a person's status. What particular kind, she did not tell him.

On her right shoulder was a long sword with a black snake curling around it and. The tattoo had a three inch scar running through it, its white lines standing out against her darkly tanned skin and on the inside of her left wrist she had the numbers '0215' in gothic-styled letters. She did not tell him the story behind those either, but gave a smirking, good-natured remark about his own goody-two shoes appearance and in response to that, Shinji showed her his tongue piercing which earned him a surprised, but appraising look and a quiet chuckle from the red head.

Shinji found that she was perceptive, had a dry, sarcastic sense of humor and a very easy-going person, but at the same time not very trusting. She kept her hand on her sword the whole time they were conversing and he did not see her lower her guard once.

"Why are you wearing bandages on your face?" he asked with a smile. The red head just shrugged indifferently, her long, slightly wavy tresses dancing around in the wind. They were a dark crimson color and he thought the color was much prettier than any other red head. Wait, did he even know another read head? Oh well, it is the thought that counts, is it not?

"So what did ya do to get so mangled up by those guys for, Strawberry?" he asked again, pulling his cloak tighter around him. It had to be minus a billion degrees out here, but the woman looked like she was completely comfortable or used to the enviroment, at least.

'_Darn. That means I don't get to do the old 'you look cold'-move. Oh well, she'd probably run me through with that sword anyway. _'

She gave a short chuckle and looked at him with amusement written over her face. Well, the part of her face he could see for bandages, "'Strawberry'? Is it common for all Shinigami to insult strangers, _Hirako-taicho?_" she said mischievously, putting emphasis on his title. Her voice was a little muffled by the bandages, but he could hear the lightly hoarse, but warm tone voice that fit her own pretty, but rebellious appearance.

"Nah, I just can't help myself around ya," the blond replied with a wink "Why don't ya call me Shinji-kun, eh Strawberry? It sounds so much better."

"'Shinji-kun'? If I get to kill you afterwards, then sure," she stated, earning a chuckle from Shinji.

'_What a Kiri thing to say. Guess I still have it in me,_' she thought to herself.

"Just wait, Strawberry," he said in a flirty tone "One day ya won't be able to resist my…"

"Your what? Long, _blond_ hair that flows in the wind and basically screams masculinity?" she interrupted "Sure, I can hardly stop myself from drooling out of desire for your manliness."

She gave him a wink at the end and Shinji just flashed a smile at her, his brown eyes shining brightly.

"I happen to know that many women think my hair emphasizes my masculinity," he said with a fake arrogant expression.

"Was that before or after they got brain damaged?"

"That's cold, Strawberry," Shinji said in mock hurt, holding a hand to his chest.

"Well, we are standing on a snow covered plain. Or did you fail to notice that for your oh so masculine bangs?"

"How about 'Shinji' then?" the blond asked, changing the subject.

His evasion earned him a funny look from the red-head, who chuckled a little before answering

"You will not give up on this matter, will you?" she stated matter-of-factly.

"That's right, Strawberry," he said proudly, as if it was the world's best compliment.

"Fine," she sighed and Shinji beamed, thinking he had won "But don't hold your breath. No, scratch that, hold your breath until I do."

Shinji laughed pleasantly, enjoying his mission a lot more than he should. Well, technically he was disobeying orders and not doing his mission, but as long as he did it later, it did not really matter in his book. Besides, the young woman was far too enjoyable to be around to just send her off. But her chain had become steadily shorter there was no avoiding it.

So without any further gilding the lily and without any more ado, Shinji told her he had to perform the konsō soon, or she would turn into a hollow. Then after having explained the theory on hollows, he raised his sword, but stopped.

"What's ya name?" he said, locking his brown eyes with her unique sand colored ones, holding his sword in front of her forehead, but not touching it "I gotta know."

Shinji saw something in her eyes he could not quite identify. Then his own eyes widened as she moved her head forward, touching the hilt of his sword with her forehead by herself.

He was looking shocked at her as she slowly began to disintegrate.

"My name is Akashura Rin… Shinji."

"I'll find ya in Soul Society, Rin. I like ya too much to just let ya go," he said, smiling brightly as he recovered from his brief shock "Besides, I think ya would be a badass Shinigami."

Rin chuckled, her sand colored eyes shone brightly and he could see the warmth and appreciation in them. Then they closed and she was gone, a black hell butterfly soaring away.

Shinji stood still for a few seconds then chuckled quietly to himself as he thought over the situation. He felt bad for those who crossed her in Rukongai. She would kick their asses with that humongous sword of hers. He had meant what he said; she would make a great Shinigami.

But there were other things to look at.

Like how she was obviously a seasoned warrior, though she had not said so herself, however the scars, the fighting skills and not to mention the _sword_ were dead giveaways. And the strange reiatsu she had was another matter to report to the Sōtaichō.

He opened a Senkaimon, but turned around to look one last time. The blood was still spattered everywhere and anywhere.

Then a thought hit him like a slap in the face. He had spent so much time enjoying talking with the red head he had actually let his guard down and forgotten his mission.

'_She dodged every question and I didn't even notice it… Oh, you bet I'm gonna find ya, Rin. I still want those answers…'_

With a smile on his face, Hirako Shinji, 5th Squad Taichō left.

* * *

Glossary: (If there are mistakes, you can blame it on eu-direct or Wikipedia. You never know with those online things.)

Flammard: A term used to describe a blade that is wavy. You can google it if you feel compelled to do so.

Kyōto: Rebel, outlaw, rioter

Kizuken Kūseido: High Precision Cutting Blade

Shinja: Sacred snake

Akashura: Red carnage (Gory, I know… but fitting for a Kiri :D)

Rin: Dignified, severe, cold

Shushō: Commander-in-Chief. A term usually used for the Commander of either a nation's army or a Commander of a specific part of an army.


	2. Change

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I have returned! I will first like to give a thanks to the people who have fav'd and alerted this story - I am really glad someone enjoys my stories enough to actually do that. Even though reviews would be nice insted of just leaving me hanging... Oh well, I still like you :)

DISCLAIMER: I just burrowed Bleach and Naruto to do this. Why? Because I can!

**To Anders, for showing me how important being true to yourself is.**

* * *

When Rin woke up, she found herself in some kind of forest. Immediately on guard, she jumped up from her position on the forest floor and pulled Kizuken Kūseido out. She stood still, listening intently to the noises around her. There was no wind and she could not hear any signs of animals around her, no birds nor anything else. Just where was she?

Shinji had told that Soul Society was made by Seireitei and Rukongai, but he never mentioned what was outside Rukongai, since she clearly was not in one of the 320 different districts.

'_Rin…' _a voice whispered through the clearing, making the red head stop in mid exhale and made her whole body go completely rigid. She could not pinpoint where the sound had come from and this made her even more cautious. She narrowed her eyes, but could not sense anything. This was seriously sending her ninja instincts into overdrive. An enemy? Where? Above? Below? Behind? From the side? Front? Was it even an enemy at all?

"What is wrong, Taichō?" Shinja asked as he sneaked up above the collar of her cloak to see what had captured his master's attention in such a manner.

"Did you hear where it came from?" she asked so quietly, it was barely a whisper. There was no chance the attacker would hear that, but Shinja would easily with his enhanced senses.

"Hear what?" the black snake replied, hissing lowly in wariness.

"Someone was saying my name." she spoke back in the same quiet whisper, her hand tightening around Kizuken Kūseido's leather wrapped hilt. She felt how the mamba's scaled form sneaked around her arms, allowing more of the black snake's body to rise. The snake

"I do not hear nor heard anything, Taichō; no one was is here besides us, not even any animals besides bugs," he said just as quietly "I would know if there was anyone."

Rin said nothing, but continued to let her alert, sand colored eyes dart quickly around the surrounding trees. It was impossible for her to have heard something if it had escaped even her snake's ears.

She trusted her senses and had trained them too much to believe she was just imagining things. She had definitely heard someone or something whisper her name.

Saving it for later, she adjusted Kizuken Kūseido a little before asking her lifelong companion for the nearest gathering of people.

It was not like she needed food or a place to stay; she was far too experienced with surviving in the wild with her astonishingly long career as a missing nin to not be able to survive in some forest. It was the information they might posses she needed. And there would be hell to pay if they did not give any valid information.

Smirking underneath her bandages, she told Shinja to keep his focus on the gathering of people as they dashed off into the unknown.

When the duo neared the gathering, they found to their great annoyance, that it was a group of what appeared to be either mercenaries or a band of criminals. The red head stopped and landed in a crouch on a thick tree branch next to the camp. Maybe they could help her find some more weapons or at least tell her how she could get to Rukongai from this place. Though it was highly unlikely; it was rare that a group of criminals would help a lone one. If it was one to one, it was a different matter. Then you would be most likely to receive help or stick together for a little while, since it decreased the chance of being attacked.

"Eleven?" she asked her snake.

"Twelve," the reptile replied back "There is a weak one at the right, thirty feet to the right, Taichō."

Rin mumbled a curse under her breath at her companion's infuriating habit of calling her that. She was sure the annoying little thing did it on purpose.

"You think they know how to get out of here?" Rin whispered to the snake, saving the thoughts for later. Shinja did not reply, but snaked down her arm and out of her sleeves to curl his scaled form around the nearest branch. She turned around to look at the snake, who nodded his black scaled head in answer to her question.

Rin jumped silently down from the branch and calmly walked into the middle of the camp; completely ignoring the whispers and looks that circled around her.

"Who are you?" some behind her spoke loudly and the whispers stopped, leaving the place in an eerie silence.

She stopped and turned lazily around while raising her hand, so it was placed on Kizuken Kūseido's hilt.

"Who is asking?" she replied back in a cocky tone. The man who had addressed her was standing in front of the others, obviously being the leader. Most of them were staring openly at her while others were glancing nervously at the large sword she carried.

'_What a bunch of weaklings…_'

The leader did not answer, but continued to look searchingly at her.

"What do you want?" he asked in a rough, unpleasant voice, taking a step forward with his spineless men following him like dogs. Useless morons.

"Can you tell me the way to Rukongai from here?" she questioned him and locked her eyes with his pale blue ones. They stared at each other, neither speaking. Rin snickered under her breath when the man was the first to break the eye contact.

'_Pathetic. He would never make it Kiri._'

"What's in it for us?" he asked with a malevolent grin, that made Rin want to laugh instead of cower in fear. Even a child back home could look scarier than him, she decided on the spot.

"What do you want?" she asked in an even more bored tone, having engaged in this kind of conversation at least a dozen times before. Everyone wanted the same and the result was inevitable. She hoped that this would not turn out that way; she was not particularly fond of pointless, easy battles.

The leader narrowed his eyes at her tone, but chose not to comment on it "That is a pretty good looking sword you have there."

Rin sighed; they really were all the same "Not happening," she replied casually.

The men spread out in a loose circle around her with grins marking their rugged features as they pulled out various weapons. Knives, daggers, a spear and a sword here and there. The leader himself carried a wakizashi with cuts into the edge. Rin actually felt a little bad for the sword; that was no way to treat a weapon.

"Then we will just take in from your dead hands, girl," he said, chuckling deeply and laughter erupted from the circle of men.

Rin raised a dark red eyebrow at this and sighed. She Body Flickered away and hid in a tree, mildly annoyed at the wary voices that sprung out from the group. Why was the people she fought always weak imbeciles?

It had been months since she had a decent fight, if you counted out the Kakuzu and Hidan from Akatsuki incident.

"I really wanted to avoid this…" she whispered in a sing-song voice as she raised her hands and did a few hand signs.

"Kirigakure no Jutsu"

The air around the camp got increasingly thick and did not stop until the mist was so thick it was impossible to see anything that was farther away than one foot.

She resisted the urge to chuckle as the men's wary and fearful voices could be heard. They were either trying to lure her in or just plain stupid. Believing it to be the latter but hoping it to be the former, she soundlessly pulled Kizuken Kūseido from her back and locked her own sand colored eyes with the snake's similar ones. Shinja gave a minor nod of his head and Rin disappeared.

Rin landed behind an unsuspecting of the criminals and sliced her large, triple bladed sword and cut his spinal cord and head artery over in a single strike, killing him instantly but without a sound. She quickly grabbed him before he hit the floor and lowered him down on the grass, but avoided to get any blood on herself. In her mind, she thanked Zabuza a million times for teaching her his particular technique and drilling it into her not to get blood on you during a fight like this; the easily identifiable smell could make you an easy target. It had become her preferred killing style over the years, just like the Demon's.

She listened to the voices around her and easily pinpointed her nearest target, taking him down in seconds as well before moving again.

She did the same with the rest without any of them noticing how their comrades dropped dead to the floor one by one and shortly after dispelled the jutsu. As the thick mist cleared away all the dead bodies were visible, each having been killed the exact same way as the first. Rin looked around, looking scrutinizing at her handiwork.

She heard the smallest ruffle in the grass beneath her and watched as Shinja made his way over the blood-spattered field, effectively avoiding getting the crimson fluid on his scaled body. He sneaked up her leg; hiding underneath her black cloak to his preferred placed around her neck.

"What a waste of time," she muttered in an irritated tone as she walked around, checking the dead bodies for something usable. She was not unused to this and had done it many times before, but it was not something she particularly was fond of doing. She sighed happily as she found what appeared to be a homemade map.

Not wanting more to do with the dead, she searched the map. Both Rukongai and Seireitei were marked on it, but since they had no idea where they were, it was not very helpful. Still, she folded the paper together like a scroll and pocketed the map for possible use later.

"Can you sense anyone nearby?" she asked Shinja, as she jumped onto the nearest tree branch and placed her blood-covered sword onto her back, intending to clean it later when she had some idea of their location.

"There are traces of many different presences heading to the west, Taichō," he said while flicking his forked tongue out "I think that it might be Rukongai."

"I guess that means we might be able to sleep in something other than trees tonight," Rin sighed in pleasure.

"What is wrong with trees?" Shinja asked a little offended. Rin just chuckled before making sure everything was in their right place, but narrowed her eyes at the place where the scroll on a highly forbidden, but very powerful lightning release jutsu should have been. She had been pissed, to say it mildly, when she woke up and realized the scroll she had stolen from Yukigakure was not there. She had spent weeks infiltrating the village to discover the location of it and then a week more to plan and actually steal the bloody thing. All that work gone to waste.

She cleared her head of those useless thought and began jumping from branch to branch, quickly putting distance behind her and the carnage behind. It was at times like this she cursed herself for not having a fire affinity; it would make cleaning up after things like that much easier. Oh well, it is not like anyone could identify her. The animals would probably take care of their corpses anyway.

* * *

Shinja had been right in his assumption. Within the next couple of hours, they had reached the outskirts of Rukongai and easily snuck their way it. During the time they had traveled, the sky had turned from dark to midnight blue, with stars twinkling. There was no moon tonight.

'_A new moon… how fitting._'

Rin was both suspicious and curious about the lack of security in the area, but chose to dwell on it when they had found somewhere to crash for the night. As her feet landed on the ground with the faintest 'thud', she let her eyes scan over the area quickly. It only looked like what Shinji had described to an extent. The houses and streets looked alike, but they were not in any kind of decent quality; most of the buildings looked like they were barely livable. The sides of said houses were filled with holes and were in dire need of repairs and there was blood smeared across a few of them. But what worried her the most was the fact that she could not see any people.

She had barely finished that thought as she heard Shinja hiss at the same time as she felt all of her ninja senses beginning to tingle as she felt those strange forms of presences she had felt from the men she had fought with… okay, slaughtered earlier. Not that she particularly cared; she had not been listed under the name Kirigakure no Kyōkan in the Bingo Book for nothing.

Rin pulled Kizuken Kūseido free from the strap and placed the large blade on her shoulders while maintaining a firm grip on the hilt with her left hand.

It took almost three whole minutes for the people to reach her and Shinja's location and she was immediately on guard. This group seemed much more organized and much more malevolent than the one she had encountered a few hours ago.

They were all clad in what appeared to be black, though she could not see it clearly in the moonless night. Like those before they were carrying weapons that could hardly be considered professional, which probably meant they had either stolen them or made them themselves. They encircled her and cleverly blocked the obvious ways to escape, though that would hardly be a problem for an S-ranked Kiri nin. Some of them were perched on the nearest roof while some were on the road. She quickly determined their numbers to be between sixteen and eighteen. You could never be quite sure just how many of the enemy there were around you… Unless you were one of those freaky eyed Hyūgas.

She looked around and had in a matter of seconds established the fact that the one that was standing between a pair of larger ones was the leader of this little gang simply by the way the others were looking at him, as if for permission or guidance.

'_They are making their leader a target by being so obvious about it… Do the people here even know the slightest battle-related thing?'_

Rin placed a hand on her hip and raised a curious eyebrow at the leader, "Hello there, gentlemen" she said as if it was a completely ordinary situation. Well, it actually was an extremely well-known situation for her, being a missing nin and all, but that was beside the point "Mind telling me where I am exactly?"

As she had predicted, the exact same thing happened as the last time. Whispers spread through the men that were surrounding her, but they stopped as the leader stepped confidently forward, but unlike the other one, he continued until he was practically nose to nose with her. She noticed he looked like he would in his late thirties if he would have been alive. The man had blonde, shaggy hair and he held her gaze, her glittering sand colored eyes locking with his pale sea-green ones It was probably in an attempt to intimidate her, but for someone whom had grown up and spend her whole life with the one and only Kirigakure no Kijin it was like looking at a sour adolescent.

"You are in the 80th east district, meaning you are in _our _territory," he said, neither of them having broken their unofficial staring contest. He was so close that she could literally feel his breath against the parts of her face that was not covered by bandages. It was disgusting "Which means that there is toll to pay."

The serious look on his face and the evil glint in his eyes was simply too much for Rin. She laughed.

This caused another wave of whispers throughout the ranks, only this time they were angry and occasional growls or insults could be heard. Everything became quiet again as the man raised his hand and looked intently at the red head, who was still chuckling him in the face.

"Is there something funny?" he growled.

'_Besides your face?' _she was highly tempted to say, but held her tongue; now was not the time for her sarcastic humor. She needed more information and she had not come this far just to get stopped by another bunch of weaklings.

"Do you think I care about something like toll?" she stated with nonchalance as she in a quick move pulled her sword from its resting position on her shoulder to have its tip placed in the ground as she glared fiercely at the man.

The leader actually smirked at this and appeared to be pleased for some odd reason "You are a feisty one, aren't you?" he asked her. Rin raised an eyebrow again as she grabbed the end of Kizuken Kūseido's hilt and began twirling the sword around, the tip drilling a little deeper into the ground below.

"So I've been told," she replied in a bored, but still somewhat mischievous tone.

"Are you by yourself or do you have any other people with you?" he asked again. The question instantly but Rin on guard and she Body Flickered behind him and held her three bladed sword against his neck, drawing a little blood. Angry and surprised yells broke the silence as the surrounding men saw this, but died down when the leader indicated for them to be silent. Gasp could be heard as well as unsecure murmurs as Shinja sneaked out from his hiding place beneath her collar to raise his black scaled head directly in front of the man's. She felt the leader go stiff when her companion's black, forked tongue darted out and touched his face.

"Does it look like we need other people?" she spoke to the shocked male in the same voice that people normally used when they were talking about the weather.

"Let us just kill them, Taichō," Shinja hissed in a frightening voice. The title sent another wave of whispers through the streets and all of them were wondering if they had really just attacked a Gotei 13 Taichō.

"Let us not," the red head replied "I do not want to spill more blood on Kizuken Kūseido than necessary; it makes the blades rusty."

This turned everyone including the leader's attention to the dark, triple bladed sword. In the moonless night they had apparently not spotted the blood covering the dark steel before.

"Are you a Shinigami Taichō?" one of the surrounding men asked. Rin only chuckled lightly at this; men were so daft sometimes.  
"I am not a Shinigami," she replied as Shinja sneaked back to now rest on top her shoulder and she released the leader, much to the surprise of both said person as well as his subordinates. The blond haired leader then smiled a small smiled and looked her over.

"So how about you join us since you do not look like you have anywhere to go, then?"

"Why should I join you when it is painfully obvious I could end all of you right here without breaking a sweat? What is in it for me?" she asked him, not sounding deeply interested in the sudden offer but nor did she sound completely uncaring.

"Information," he replied, efficiently catching her attention. Her shining eyes watched his with far more interest than before.

"Continue."

The man smirked a little; he had assumed right. "Though those lousy Shinigami claim to have control over Rukongai, our group has the power over different districts. You join our little group and help us keep it that way in exchange for knowledge over this place. And you also get a pack of comrades to watch your back and a place to crash." He said the last part with a somewhat light tone, but it was obvious he was completely serious about everything he had said.

Rin thought over this a little; debating the pros and cons of the agreement. If they had underground control that meant that they knew both what happen on as well as beneath the surface; something she needed to know. It would be plain stupidity if she did not learn as much as possible about this place if she was going to spend quite some time stuck here. In the back of her head a little voice told her that they might know something about Shinji, but she ignored it. The prospect of joining that group of weaklings did not do much for her ego, but she could work with it. Also, she really was in dire need of a place to be able to crash and eat. After all, if they became a problem she could just make carnage out of them.

"You got yourself a deal," Rin said calmly as she pulled Kizuken Kūseido from the ground and placed it onto her shoulder.

Murmurs and mutters of approval could be heard around; they were obviously pleased that a strong fighter was joining them, even if she had scared the living daylights out of them with her strange sword and vicious snake moments before.

"So what do we get to call you then?" the leader asked in a lot more friendly tone.

The red head smiled a small smile underneath her bandages as a little plan thought made its way into her head. Shinji had promised he would find her, had he not? The small smile grew into a mischievous smirk. Then why not make it a little easier for Mr. Masculinity?

"Rin," she replied with a glint in her sand colored eyes "You can call me Rin."

* * *

Kirigakure no Kijin: Demon of the Hidden Mist Village

Kirigakure no Kyōkan: Assassin of the Hidden Mist Village


	3. Whispers

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry about the long update, but life got me. So yeah, I have had my mind on other things. Sorry about the wait. Also, I will not be updating either of my stories for a little while – family stuff, you know… But here is the next chapter!

DISCLAIMER: Kishimoto and Kubo, yada yada, yada, don't sue me.

**- To my coach, for pushing me beyond my limit - and for showing me how my limit reached much further than I thought.**

* * *

"Where did ya lose it?" he asked in a pissed toned as he looked sternly at the man on the couch, who startled inhaled half of his drink and coughed loudly before he stared back at the brown haired man, who had spoken to him with a weird expression.

"Lose what?" he asked as he calmed and took another sip of his drink, continuing to have their eyes locked with each other.

The red haired woman, whom was leaning against the wall with her long, ever present, triple bladed sword leaning next to her of the so-called office rolled her eyes at the blond haired leader. '_Men are pigs.'_

"Your god damn brain, Jūzei-sama, getcha mind out of the gutter," he replied with narrowed eyes "Obviously ya lost yer brain, because anyone with the smallest amount of intelligence would know that assassinating someone in the 1st district is freaking dangerous and most people would get caught before they even made it there!"

"Are you saying we can't do it?" he asked in a serious tone, though it was obvious he was getting increasingly amused as the man in front of him grew increasingly pissed.

"Shut yer trap, I did _not _say that," he angrily snapped at him "I'm just saying that if ya get caught, which is likely since there's freaking _Shinigami _allover the place_, _we can't guarantee anyone's safety. We can't station back-up around because of all the security and whoever went in there would be..."

The brown haired man cut off and spun around, glaring angrily at the one who had dared to laugh at him.

"What the hell are ya laughing at, woman," he semi-yelled at her. Her laughter stopped as she slowly pushed herself of the walk and walked gracefully over to the couch and plopped down, placing her feet on Jūzei's legs and casually rested one arm on the armrest while the other one played with the ends of her long ponytail. His glare intensified a little at her position with the leader of their group.

"I'll be executing this task, Tadashi," she said with her sand colored eyes locking directly with his green ones "Do you still think it can't be done? Or do you imply I can't do it?"

Jūzei stifled a chuckle at the man's torn expression; it was obvious he was still fuming with anger but he knew he had lost the argument the moment he learned it would be the red head, who would do the hit. Tadashi glared angrily at the young woman who amusedly stared back and he grumbled and muttered curses under his breath as he stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him.

"Pathetic," a voice hissed and the leader of Takagun whipped his head around to stare at the snake head that had appeared from beneath his second-in-command's dark blue uniform collar. That reptile never seized to freak him out, no matter how long it and Rin had been at his side; that snake just scared the living daylights out of him. He shifted his gaze from the deadly animal to the just as deadly female whom had begun to play with her hair again.

"How long is it you've been here now, Rin-san?"

She looked at him a little before turning her eyes to look out the window on the opposite side of the wall, absentmindedly stroking her snake beneath its head "Almost two years."

Jūzei nodded to himself and the two fell into a companionable silence.

"So when should I execute the order?" Rin asked him with boredom evident in her voice. Jūzei chuckled quietly at this; that woman was just about one of the laziest persons he had ever come across. Not that he would ever dare say that to her face.

"Four days from now, so I think it is best if you get to work right away," he answered her and got up, letting her feet hit the floor with a small 'thud'.

"That man is just plain stupid," the red head said to no one in particular. Jūzei turned around to look oddly at the young woman, who was now counting to herself "Four… three… two… one…"

"The plan still sucks and ya effing well know it!" the familiar semi-yell of Tadashi rang out in the room as he slammed the door open again. Rin just pulled her arm over her eyes and ignored his pointless rant. Shinja hissed at the loud noise and watched the large, muscular male while Jūzei just sighed.

'_Here they go again…'_

Rin let her arm fall to the side of the couch and glared at Takagun's third-in-command, "Are you still complaining?"

"It's too dangerous; can't ya get it, yer damn woman?"

Rin raised herself from the couch in a blur and her and Tadashi was now standing barely an inch apart with equally menacing expressions. Jūzei could almost see the electricity between their locked eyes.

"Are you saying I'm weak because I'm a woman, huh?" She almost growled and from behind them, the blonde leader momentarily winced at the malevolence in her tone. Tadashi, however was too caught up in his own anger to really care. Big mistake.

"Yer so stupid, you know that?"

"Oh, so I'm the stupid one? Who's the second in command, _Suiken?_"

"That's completely besides the point, _Akashura! _Ya know damn well that it's too risky!"

"That's rich coming from you!" the red head spat back, now both of them nose to nose. Although Rin had to tilt her head up, she looked just as frightening as the larger male, if not more. "You're just too scared to do anything yourself, you lousy trash!"

"Shut yer mouth, woman or…"

"Or what? You know you're weaker than me, you ignorant wuss, so just quit complaining! You're acting like a little girl, who got her lollipop stolen!"

"Well, someone's to be the reasonable one around here!" Tadashi yelled into her face "Ya always just fight your way out of things like a troll!"

"At least I don't go around yelling at everything because I can't handle being with people who are better than me - which, by the way, is _everyone!_"

"Jūzei-sama, ya should've killed the bitch!"

"Can it, moron, or I'll gut you like a fish!"

"Tadashi, I'm sick and tired off you calling her that. Please call her something else," the older leader sighed as he watched the two bicker like a married couple. A violent, loud couple at that.

"Fine, ya should've killed the freak!"

'_I am too old for this…'_

* * *

"One day, I'm going to kill that prick,"

Rin growled angrily in her head as she made her way through the district, heading for the nearby forest. She may not have been a living one, but she was still a ninja at heart and being around that many people simply wore her out to a point where she was exhausted. Having to keep an eye on anything and everything around you, listening, watching and sensing for something harmful was not easy; not when you were in the middle of a house filled with gang members. Her head was aching a little from the strain and she was just longing to sleep. The members of Takagun had by now accustomed themselves to her odd habits and quirks such as she would never walk in front of someone, never went anywhere without her freakishly large sword and frightening, black snake and always had her face wrapped in bandages. The latter had later evolved into something that the majority of the guys were betting on – what was hiding beneath and who could manage see her face without the fabric. The theories as to what was underneath was varying from no teeth, acid scars and cuts to buck-teeth, giant lips and just a general ugly face to a pretty face. There were even more, some of them rather far-fetched and to great amusement for everyone, including the female in question. She thought it to be great fun to watch them try to outsmart her or make her tell them.

Rin made her way through the first trees, neither of them suitable enough to sleep in, running past them in ordinary, un-chakra enhanced speed. She ran past the vegetation and breathed in the calming, familiar scent of her surroundings. She looked to her left and noticed a small lake in a clearing not far from her current position and with a faint sigh, she dashed off to it.

She slowed her pace and walked out on the lake, channeling her chakra into the soles of her feet to keep herself on the dark surface. The red head then sat herself down with her legs crossed and let her fingertips dive into the cold water and her beige eyes closed in contentment. She did always have a thing for water, like any Kiri would; especially the ocean would always leave her spellbound and mesmerized. The mysteriousness of its dark depths, the alluringness of the ripples that would occasionally break the surface, the drops that would shine like diamonds in moonlight, it left her utterly and completely serene. Yet, there was also something wild and untamable about the ocean that appealed to her. The way the waves would raise and fall, uncontrolled and harsh against the rocks on the beach. The ocean was strong and powerful and controlled by nothing – it was nature, raw and pure nature.

"Anyone?" she asked Shinja as she walked back into the grass-covered ground and placed Kizuken Kūseido on her lap.

"Not anyone close enough to notice us," the black mamba replied from beneath her collar. Rin nodded and moved her hands up, removed her hitai ate, which she still constantly wore then and began unwrapping the bandages from around her face, removed her blue shirt to reveal her sleeveless, black shirt and left all in a neat roll next to her and then leaned forward to look at her reflection in the lake's surface. Shinja uncurled from around her neck and sneaked his way down into the short grass.

A pair of beige colored eyes looked back at her with a blank look. An unfamiliar urge to scrutinize herself came over her and Rin ran her eyes critically over her reflection in the shimmering surface. Both her face, outfit or hair was dirty, the wavy layers of dark red, almost black locks had turned dry and begun splitting at the ends and was overall not in the best condition – when you were basically living in the streets, personal luxuries were not common nor even available. A thin layer of dust, dirt and things alike covered her and she reached down into the water, only to let her whole arm drop in as she almost jumped into the lake from the shock.

_"You really do love the water, do you not?"_

It was that voice again, a small whisper that carried with the wind, everywhere but nowhere. Close enough for her to reach out, but too far to be able to grasp it.

"Who's there?" she asked aloud, earning a hissing noise from her now completely agitated snake and her left hand closed around the hilt of her triple-bladed sword.

"_You already know…_"

"What is it, Taichō?" she heard Shinja rasp out and she gave him a fleeting, confused look, but kept her eyes on their surroundings, watching, sensing and listening intently for the slightest sign of the speaker.

"It's that voice again."

"What voice?"

Rin looked strangely at the black creature, which had much more fine tuned senses than she could ever hope to achieve, thoroughly unnerved by the fact that it seemed like she was the only one who could hear the whisper.

"Who are you?"

"For crying out loud," she snapped as she focused on the cold, wet feeling. She tore of the now wet bandages she always wore around her right hand and lower arm, revealing a black tattoo on the back of her hand – a simple piece the kanji for 'Fumetsu'. Angrily throwing the soaked bandages away, Rin reached into the clear liquid again and washed most of the dirt from her face, neck and arms and a now clean face was looking back at her.

Slender eyebrows, cat-like and slightly hooded eyes, a bit square-ish and angular face and small chin. She had always considered her face plain and boring; and had always been thankful for it – it made blending in with crowd much easier. But unfortunately for her, she was cursed with a strange eye color and the darkest shade of crimson, almost black hair that one would ever see. She was never going to consider herself beautiful.

Beauty. It was a weak word, and she hated being associated with it. Hence one of the reasons that she wrapped her face in bandages and had several tattoos; it gave her a punkish and careless look and the red head would usually either glare or smack anyone who looked closely at her. In her younger days, it had helped her to get people to take her more seriously and also, she basically loved tattoos in general and liked the distance and mystery that would surround her, when one could only see her eyes and upper face. As so courteously pointed out by Tadashi, her attitude, constantly scowling face and abnormally dangerous looking sword would make anyone run in the opposite direction the moment they laid eyes on her. Also, the fact that her arms were just as muscled as Tadashi's own and her shoulders rather broad, due to her almost obsessive love for sword fighting – according to him, if she did not have breasts or long hair, she would look like a man. That arrogant, incompetent prick.

Rin snorted loudly as she remembered that was said by someone, who had not even seen her without her bandages out. Not that anyone had since she came here, anyway.

But that was not the actual reason she had begun covering her face in the first place. It was because she could not stand the look in _his_ eyes, every time his eyes ran over the scar that marred the lower right half of her face.

_**- FLASHBACK -**_

_Rin's muscles protested slightly against the weight of the zanbat__ō__ but with a push, she managed to get it to slide off the swirled outer blades of Kizuken Kūseido. She jumped backwards and landed with skidding feet twenty feet away from her attacker. She only registered his large form disappearing from her view. She saw a small glint of the sunlight reflecting of metal, and she spun to raise her sword with all the speed she possessed to stop him from severing her left arm from the rest of her body. She channeled chakra though one of the two outer blades and heard the screeching sound of metal hitting metal. She made a Body Flicker to the right, but changed the chakra flow through her blade, so it spun forward and she saw with annoyance how she only managed to land a small cut on him before he had moved away._

_Retreating her blade back, she rethought her strategy, but jumped in the air just in time to avoid the water dragon from killing her. She smirked widely, threw her sword horizontally into the nearest tree and formed four hand signs, still in the air. A bolt of lightning could be seen heading directly into the face of the roaring, blue water dragon and she heard the pained cry of her opponent as he was electrocuted, the lightning travelling from the dragon to the caster. She stopped her attack and landed silently on the ground, ignoring the motionless body nearby. She ran up the side of the tree, retrieved her sword and slung it over her shoulder. She looked at the still body, growing slightly annoyed and wary._

"_Zabuza…?" she called, her anxiety increasing when he did not move, but continued to lay motionless._

_She Body Flickered over and crouched down, checking for a pulse, but gave a choked cry of pain as the sword cut through the skin and flesh of her unguarded face, through the bones and tissue. Blood literally flew out and she fell to the ground, clutching her mouth and chin. She looked up to find the familiar, brown eyes of her partner staring at her from his crouch next to her with a shock evident in his orbs; she could not see much else because of his ever present bandages._

"_Wh…" Rin tried to speak, but only managed to increase the pain and have blood spill out from her mouth, the metallic taste of the thick liquid making her feel like she was choking. Tightening her grip around her sword, she tried to block out the pain and see clearly, but everything was getting a little fuzzy. She swayed a bit, but felt a pair of thick, muscled arms wrap around her._

"_You were supposed to block that," Zabuza growled down at the female in his arms, barely old enough to be called a woman, her black clothes shimmering and glistening with blood._

"_I thought… you…" was all she managed before black and white dots began to appear in her vision, her body beginning to shut down from blood loss._

"Shit!_" he cursed, scooping the red head in his arms and channeled more than enough chakra into his feet, propelling forward, using all his speed to get back to their hideout before it was too late._

"_Rin, don't die on me," she heard him, but she was too far gone to be sure if it was real or not._

_When Rin woke up, she had almost decided on the spot to go back to sleep. She felt like she had both a massive hangover and like someone had placed her face on the ground and then jumped on it. She recognized her surroundings as her own room, and she removed the covers from her body, noticing someone had replaced her clothes. Probably Haku, but she did not particularly care at the moment._

_Leaving the warmth of her bed, she made her way over to the bathroom, but stopped dead in her tracks as she caught her reflection in the mirror, her eyes widening. She reached up her hand and traced the scar on the right side of her face, before she dropped it like she had been burned._

_Half an inch from the middle of her chin, an equally thick scar ran diagonally upwards, through the corners of both her lower and upper lip, making them curl upwards in a permanent smirk-like grimace, before stopping a little below the side of her nostril. There were thick, black x's of where the wound had been stitched together, making her look like something out of a horror movie. She closed her eyes and turned away, disgusted by her own reflection._

_She stood still, staring out at the night sky, when she felt the familiar chakra presence of the Kijin come up behind her. It was no surprise that he did not apologize – and why should he? He had been right; she should have blocked the attack. It was no one's fault but her own for letting her guard down and this was the simple price she had paid for it. Rin still felt somewhat lucky; if it had been an enemy, she would have been dead. She had been reminded of the rules of being a shinobi yesterday, and she had no intention of ever forgetting it again._

_She was a little surprised when she felt his calloused hand cup her cheek and turn her to face him, but it was the look in his eyes that made her heart clench._

_His eyes were filled with worry and guilt, though it was hidden in the brown depts. But Rin knew him well enough to see through the walls he build around himself. She saw how his eyes moved to the horrific scar and he frowned deeply, his eyes conveying the message he would not say himself. Zabuza was sorry. And he hated himself for hurting her._

_She tried to turn her face away from him, no longer able to stand the look in his eyes._

"_Do not look, it is repulsive," she said, wrapping her arms around herself. Ignoring her, he made a growling sound of annoyance, grabbing her chin somewhat firmly and turned her face back to face his own._

_She looked searchingly at his face, trying to catch his eyes, but his brown orbs were focused on the cut he had left on his lifetime friend. He let his rough thumb run over the scar, caressing the tender skin and Rin had to fight her body's urge to shudder at the contact._

"_Don't be vain. It's weak and you're not," he stated somewhat harshly, but his eyes changed into something she did not recognize. But it was fleeting, his eyes turning back to the distanced, hard brown. __With that, he abruptly let his hand fall down and turned, calling over his shoulder, that she should be ready to start her mission for the scroll in Yukigakure in two days._

_She stared somewhat shocked and confusedly after his retreating body, until he was out of her sight._

_Walking to the bathroom again, avoiding looking into the mirror, she opened a cabinet and pulled out a roll of bandages, wrapping them securely around her face in the same way Zabuza did his. Then she left the room and began plotting her plan for the retrieval of the forbidden technique scroll. She did not have much time._

_If she had known what would happen once she acquired it, she would probably never have left._

_**- END FLASHBACK –**_

"Taichō," Shinja suddenly hissed "Three people."

Needing no more information, Rin gathering her things and covered herself again and the black snake retreated to his favored position again. The duo then ran off in silence, though Rin could not quite shake the feeling off recognition off. Something or someone had felt familiar back there. Shrugging it off, she jumped onto a decently thick tree branch and sped off.

* * *

Rin was running soundlessly through the eastern districts, making her way from the dirty, unkempt and poor districts to the richer ones closer to Seireitei with her faithful reptile and longs, triple bladed sword. Her lean figure clad in the Takagun colors easily blended in with the shadows. Though the group did not have a specific uniform, they wore only black and dark blue and all members carried the same midnight yblue scarf and, loose, dark blue shirt and had all had tattooed a black and blue hawk onto their either left or right ankle.

She jumped across rooftops, ran on brick walls, took shortcuts and had already reached the 64th district when the sun started to set, painting red, orange, purple and golden colors across the sky. The red haired shinobi reached onto her back to adjust Kizuken Kūseido without slowing down as she continued to lessen the distance to her target: The 1st Eastern district and the home of an underground arms dealer named Yamamura Aidō.

Rin's face contracted slightly in anger underneath the bandages as she thought about the despicable excuse of a human being. On the surface, Yamamura was the owner of a restaurant in the 1st district, but in reality the man had established an underground business of selling weapons to the gangs of the poor districts and in return he would gain control over their territories. As it was now, he actually had control and spies placed over a large number of the lower districts in the north of Rukongai, from the 64th to the 75th as well as some others in the eastern one, which was the reason she was after him now. Takagun did not enjoy rivals and since Rin herself had joined their surprisingly large force, all rivaling gangs had been removed swiftly. It was a clever move by Yamamura to focus his dealings in another part of Rukongai as it allowed him to roam more freely and avoid suspicion.

The stars had appeared a while ago and it was now in the middle of the night, but not once had the red head slowed her pace; she continued running forward. The midnight stars were shining brightly through the dark indigo that were covering the sky, much to the thankfulness of Rin, whom had a strong urge to stay away from sun. For some unknown reason, she had always disliked the light. It meant a change from her preferred tactics and fighting styles and stung in her eyes, almost always ending with her having a minor, but annoying headache and tired eyes. Her reluctance and unwillingness to be out in the light had probably been one of the reasons she had risen to high in the ranks of the Stealth Force – it was the thing she did best; hiding amongst the shadows and blending in with the darkness. Besides, it was how her Shadow techniques would work best - if there was already shadow existing.

"This's taking too long." Rin growled in annoyance as she continued past the marker of the 21st district. She had never been a very patient one and she was never going to be. And the fact that the Rukongai districts were unimaginably large did not make it a shorter travel.

"Patience, Taichō," Shinja soothed his master when the red head increased her speed once again, so she was merely a blur to the civilian eye.

"Patience… Not familiar with the word," she grumbled back as her feet made a quick work over some bars that connected one of the houses to the next and continued dashing across the roof tops. Luckily for the former Kiri shinobi, the buildings were almost all the same, which made it easier for her. You could say that trees and roof tops were the highway of ninja.

A silence then fell over the duo and the sky turned a red and orange shade and the silence was not broken until the sky was painted with pale red and the first rays of the sun shone to the east as they ran past the entrance gate to the 2nd district, Rin stealthily avoiding the patrolling Shinigami as well as the few civilians, which were still out at this hour.

She snorted loudly in distain as she blew past a trio of strolling Shinigami; how useless could those weaklings possibly get? Rin may not have spent decades or centuries in Soul Society, but as a part of Takagun and as someone who lived in the 80th district, she had inherited the dislike and distrust for the zanpakutō wielding forces that practically every living soul in the 80th had. They claimed to protect Rukongai and every soul in it, caring more for other's lives than their own. _Lies. _Those worthless Shinigami did nothing to protect or even watch anything that was not close to their beloved Seireitei; they did not even care about the lower districts. There was a reason why the farther from Seireitei one moved, the poorer the living standards became. It was because there were neither rules nor patrols to keep the areas in check.

She was completely revolted by their lack of caring; they were supposed to protect the ones weaker than themselves not just those who was close to their accursed court. As late as on her way here, Rin had ran past the corpse of a young woman, whom was holding her crying, still alive infant in her cold arms.

For reasons she could not specify, she had taken pity onto the poor thing and had taken the child with her, after having rocked it to sleep with some, until now, unknown maternal instincts. Sure, she had becomed attached to Haku – who wouldn't? He was such a kind, caring child, but he was also a shinobi, a tool for war. There was nothing to do about the mother's body, so she left it behind. Pity and compassion was not things that were held high in the 80th and she had already gone more out of her way than anyone from there would by just paying attention to them – bodies in the streets were not an uncommon sight.

She had left the baby at an orphanage in the 12th district. She had no doubt that the infant would receive a better fate there than from its original place. It was well known to all that there was only two ways out of the absolutely lowest districts and neither of them were earning your way out of there. Things just did not work out that smoothly or simply.

"Finally," she murmured as she jumped from a roof to hide in the shadows of a small cluster of trees in Yamamura's restaurant's garden. She could see her target sitting through a window with several, richly dressed people around him.

To understand Akashura Rin's master-plan for his life, one must first understand a truth that only true geniuses can see in everyday life: Simplicity. The best plans are often the simplest ones. With complicated plans, the risks get higher and the numbers of things that can go wrong are multiplied many times.

"Shinja, you know what to do."

She felt the long, cold body of her companion reptile uncurl from around her neck to glide out from her collar and then disappear between the many strands of grass, only occasionally would the sunlight reflect light of his black scales and she saw him move through an open window, keeping in the shadows. Rin was not the most patient in the bunch and luckily she did not have to wait more than a minute and a half before she saw the familiar, lithe body crawl out through the same window and then felt the snake crawl back up her and reposition himself around her neck. She then darted off into the dawn and loud shouts could be heard from the building behind her.

"What happened to Yamamura-sama?"

"Who did this?"

"Someone alert the guards!"

"Get the Shinigami over here!"

Rin smirked beneath her face bandages as she jumped up, grabbing the edge of the nearest roof and pulled herself onto it and dashed off.

* * *

She had almost made it out of the 1st district, when a familiar presence caught her attention. It was faint and she could not put a name on it, but it was definitely there; the same presence that she had thought she had noticed back in the forest. Deciding it to be worth a little investigation, she jumped to the right, made her way over the roof tops and then slowed to a stop after few minutes. A mischievous spark lit up in her eyes as she recognized the figure sitting on a few rooftops away. Using all of her shinobi stealth from her previous position as Taichō for the entire Kirigakure Stealth Force, she sneaked up behind him, crouched down silently and then spoke calmly into his ear.

"Nice morning, eh?"

"Gah…!" Shinji yelped and a loud clashing sound was heard. Brown-grey eyes were glaring into sand colored ones and Rin could hardly hold back a chuckle as recognition spread across his face.

"Do you enjoy shoving your zanpakutō in other people's faces or is it just me?" she asking, shifting her eyes from his face to the blade, that was caught between the three blades of her Kizuken Kūseido.

Then Shinji's face lit up and his trademark Cheshire cat grin spread widely across his face, his eyes dancing with just as much amusement as Rin's.

"Well, well, if it ain't the one and only Akashura Rin," the blond said and pulled his zanpakutō out from its stuck position between the three blades of the female's larger weapon. Rin chuckled a bit, somewhat surprised he remembered her name and sat down on the rooftop with the other Taichō following her example.

"So what's happening?" she asked him while placing her abnormally large sword next to her, her hand always resting on the leather-wrapped hilt.

Shinji cocked his head to the side and gave her an amused glance, which the red head ignored, "Yer speakin' changed."

"I guess it did," she replied, giving a small shrug.

"_And it is not the only thing…_"

Shinji watched curiously and a bit warily as the red head beside him stiffened momentarily, her face frozen and eyes turning distant. Her hand clenched around the leather-wrapped hilt of her sword and he saw her uniquely colored eyes darted around, searching their surroundings. Then she went back to the way she was before, turning around to look at him, after a few seconds of silence raising a slender, red eyebrow questioningly. It was then Shinji realized he had been staring intently at her face, the visible part anyway, searching for traces of her discomfort.

"Do I have something on my face?" she asked amusedly, but her hand had not eased a bit around the hilt. Shinji noticed this and reached over to loosen her grip. She did not resist, but looked intently at him as he leaned over her and grayish brown locked with sand.

"What's wrong?" he asked, neither of them looking away. She stared defiantly at him, not adverting her gaze.

"Besides you invading my personal space? Nothing."

Shinji chuckled a bit, but then a small frown crossed his face. He leaned back.  
"I get it. Ya don't wanna tell me, that's fine," he said in his normal tone, resting his weight on his arms behind him.

"Don't be like that," Rin spoke back, nudging his arm with her elbow "It's just because I don't really get it myself."

"Tell me," Shinji stated simply, his eyes roaming over the brightly colored sky above.

"If I said there's a voice inside my head, would you call me crazy?" The odd look Shinji gave her did not make her feel any less calm with the situation.

"Has the voice said anythin' about a name?"

Rin sat still for a full ten seconds, staring at the blond Taichō, wondering whether or not he could read minds.

"It said I already knew it," she replied hesitantly, eying him, as if she was not sure she should really be saying this or not. Sighing she gave him a wink, "Yeah, I'm officially crazy, heh."

"I wasn't goin' to say that, Rin," he caught her attention with the pleased tone in his voice "I say yer startin' to hear yer zanpakutō spirit."

* * *

GLOSSARY:

Jūzei: Serious crime

Tadashi: Loyal, true

Suiken: Water Blade

Takagun: Hawk Army

Zanbatō: A term used for a very large, Japanese sword.

Fumetsu: Immortal, undying, indestructible

Yamamura: Mountain village

**ALRIGHT PEOPLE, I NEED YOU OPINION ON THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: (Because I'm an indecisive fool)**

**1) Should Rin be exiled with the rest of the guys? Should she be a Visored or just stay in Soul Society?**

**2****) I'm still unsure about where to place Rin. I'm personally thinking she would fit best in the Onmitsukidō (The Stealth Force/Black Ops/etc - not in the any of the Squads of Gotei 13), but what are your thoughts?**

**Leave your answers in a review or a PM – it would be a really big help, since I can't decide myself.**

That is all – Please review!

- C


	4. Battles

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I tried to make up for the long wait by moving a tad forward with the plot and get some action in. I hope you enjoy it.**

**DISCLAIMER: Nope, not mine.**

* * *

"Well, screw this," she said as she got up, pulling Kizuken Kūseido with her, "There's no way I'm going to be a goody-two-shoes Shinigami, assumed zanpakutō voices in my head or not."

Shinji snickered, then turned his head and looked at the landscape in front of him again, "Sit down."

"No thanks. Later, Shinji," the redhead said as she prepared to dash off. She only made it two steps, when she stopped up, narrowly avoiding colliding with the blond Shinigami.

"Now what?" Rin asked, giving him a tired glare.

"I wasn't done talkin', ya know," Shinji answered "If ya don't learn to control yer powers, yer gonna be hurtin' the people around ya."

Rin gave him an odd look, "If you're trying to get me to become a Shinigami, you chose a pretty lame argument. I don't particularly care."

"Rin, I mean it," the blond said, glaring slightly "Yer gonna be like a magnet for Hollows if ya can't control it."

"Hollows are fightable, right?" she asked, seemingly not bothered the least.

"Yes. But not if ya-"

"Then I don't see the problem," Rin finished, cutting Shinji off "I could use them as warm-up."

"Have ya ever seen a Hollow?" he threw back and made a small 'tch' sound as the red head glared at him.

"No…"

"Then yer can't do anythin' against them. Ya need a zanpakutō to purify the Hollows."

"Okay, I can't kill them I get it," she said lazily, waving her bandaged hand dismissively.

Shinji sighed but said nothing further as the odd pair lapsed into silence again. It stayed that way until he decided to ask something that had been bothering him since he saw her.

"Rin…"

"Now what?" she said in a tired voice, lifting a red eyebrow at the blond beside her.

"Whataya doin' in the 1st district?"

'_Shit…_' "… What are _you_ doing in the 1st district?"

Shinji gave a toothy grin, "I asked first."

"I asked most recently," Rin retorted back in a matter-of-fact tone, leaning back on her elbows.

"I'm the Taichō," the blond said, using the authority card to win the childish argument neither of them really was aware they had started.

"Well, my last formal rank was Shushō, so that's a dumb point to make," she sent back.

"…"

"…?"

"…"

"Shinji…"

"…"

"Shinji."

"…"

"_Shinji._"

"Eh?"

"Stop staring."

"…"

"_Shinji…!_"

"Whadaya mean Shushō?"

'_Fuck…_'

* * *

"I still don't get how ya can remember yer life in the world of the livin'," the blond said when the red head had finished her (very dodgy and shallow) explanation "I ain't never met anyone who could remember. Maybe yer just really attached to yer old life."

Rin chuckled a little and glanced at Shinji "Different is good."

He made his Cheshire grin at her, white teeth shining "Whatever rocks yer boat."

"Can it, Goldilocks," she half-sighed and lazily smacked his arms "I'm too tired to listen to you."

"And why's that? All I ever see ya do's talkin' and dozin' off."

A sand colored glare was sent Shinji's way. Rin had been up three days in a row, sleeping approximately four hours in total, to prepare for the Yamamura assassination and the lazy blond had the guts to tell her she was doing nothing? Sure, you could repeatedly stab the redhead with a fire poker and she would grin, ask you to do it again and say 'pain is weakness leaving the body' or something similar, but she did not take insults very well, good-natured ones or not. Her pride would not allow her to do so.

The glare intensified, eyes burning into the Shinigami.

"You're the Taichō. Aren't you supposed to be doing your job?" she said, giving away her discontent with his comment by having a minor icy tone in her voice. Shinji, however, either did not hear or simply chose to ignore it.

"I _am,_" was the reply from the man next to her, as he lifted an arm to shield his eyes from the increasingly bright sun. Rin snorted in disagreement.

"Right now," Shinji removed his arm to give her a toothy grin "I'm gatherin' promisin'recruits."

"Like that's going to help you saving the sinking vessel called Gotei 13."

"Nah, that ain't very nice, Rin," Shinji lazily scolded before doing his Cheshire smile again "But I'm sure that vessel'd stop sinkin' if yer would just go to the Academy and then join my squad, eh?"

"Just shut up," Rin sighed "I'm not the type to be a Shinigami."

"Nah, that ain't true."

"Oh, so you just know me better than I now myself now, eh? Sure…"

The two bickered half-heartedly back and forth for a little while, neither of them particularly engaged in the argument. Rin glanced at the long haired male Shinigami next to her and gave an eye-crinkling smile when Shinji caught her looking at him. Thankfully, they had passed the flirting phase. If there was something she had learned about the lazy blond, it was that he always used flirtation as a way of 'breaking the ice'. He didn't really mean much by it; it was just the way he was.

"You never answered my question," said Rin as she rested her head in her hand, sand colored orbs locking with grayish brown.

"Ya didn't answer mine either."

She raised a dark red eyebrow in a questioning manner "Which one?"

"All of 'em," the answer was followed by a toothy grin so large it looked like it was about to fall of the blond's face. Shinji's expression then turned into a rare serious look and he tilted his head to look searchingly at his companion's "Ya know, yer've never answered a single question fully."

The visible part of Rin's face turned blank "Maybe you didn't listen well enough?"

"There ya go again; answerin' a question with a question. That isn't gonna get us anywhere."

"Because stating the obvious is going to get us so much further," Rin rolled her eyes, sarcasm dripping from her every word.

"How am I supposed to know anythin' 'bout ya, if ya aren't goin' to answer?" Shinji half sighed, half exclaimed. This earned him an odd look from the shinobi.

"Maybe I don't want you to know anything about me; did that ever occur to you? Or maybe your bangs aren't only clouding your vision, but your perception as well."

Shinji glared at her with narrowed eyes and Rin looked defiantly back without wavering. That was a low blow and they both knew it, "I didn't take ya for the kind of person to go for personal attacks."

"And I didn't take you for the kind of person that's suicidal. Apparently I was wrong."

"Dammit, Rin, why're ya so scared to tell me anythin'?" Shinji raised his voice a little bit, which meant that he was running on the last fraction of his patience.

"Why does it matter? Don't you have anything better to do than questioning me?" she sneered, her voice rising to match his. He was walking on thin ice and if he continued to walk, he was certainly going to break it. Or rather, Rin was going to break it for him, most likely breaking certain limbs of his in the process as well.

"Why won't ya answer a damn thing? What the hell are ya tryin' to hide?"

She calmed herself with a deep breath before answering him in a tired voice, "My reasons are my own. Why are you being so persistent?"

"Just answer the damn question, would ya? I'm tryin' to help ya, jeez."

Rin stopped moving; her eyes narrowing into a deadly glare.  
"_Me_? Needing _your_ help? You shouldn't think so lowly of me," she said with bitterness seeping into her tone as she continued, her eyes boring into his "I've done things that even the most heartless would find questionable. I don't need your help."

Then she raised her hands, did a single hand sign, and disappeared with a puff of smoke, leaving the blond gaping at the spot she had just occupied.

Shinji stared around him, turning his head in every possible direction she could have left only to stare back at the spot next to him again. Everything was gone. Sword, presence, scent, and most importantly, the fiery red-head herself. He tried to search for her reiatsu, but he could not find even the smallest trace. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously, before shaking his head in confusion. What the hell did she mean by that?

* * *

When Rin reappeared in between the trees of the forest a long distance away from the borders of the 80th, she let Shinja sneak out from his place around her neck and crawl away before she swung her sword diagonally in front of her with enough force for the triple blade to cut through the wood of the nearest foliage like a hot knife through butter. She was definitely annoyed with the girly-man; how rudely persistent could one dead Shinigami possibly be? Obviously he had missed the increasingly less subtle hints about her wanting her privacy; either that or he chose to ignore them. She deduced the latter was the most likely, Shinji being the confident, arrogant, prideful prick that he was. He was too damn perceptive and observant to have missed anything. Pissed beyond words, the red-head decided to retreat back to Takagun for some well earned rest.

She was dozing off in the couch in the current Takagun base in the 76th district, absentmindedly letting her fingers trail over Shinja's cool, firm body as the snake was sleeping on her stomach. This was one of the few times she was actually able to have some peace and quiet around her without being disturbed by some low members or that hot-headed pest Suiken. She closed her eyes and turned her head a bit and was on the verge of falling into a much needed sleep when she heard the loud stomping of someone making their way through the halls. Shinji hissed sharply as he woke from the noise, the reptile and its master looking equally dangerous because of the disturbance of their rest.

"What the hell is it _now_?" she said exasperated as the large form of the third-in-command slammed her door open and walked in without any sort of respect for his superior.

"The Boss needs ya," he said in his common half-shout half-normal speaking voice. Rin made a small sound in the back of her throat at his choice of wording; the man should know to choose his words carefully by now.

"That's obvious, Tadashi-baka. I'm the second-in-command after all."

"Now isn't the time for yer god damn antics, woman!" he yelled, his voice rising to bellowing volumes. Shinja showed his fangs with a high hiss at the loud noise, curling his body back around Rin's neck "Get to the Boss' office now!"

The now very pissed off red-head glared dangerously at Tadashi and was contemplating whether or not to electrocute him to a barbeque steak. Deciding against it, she pulled Kizuken Kūseido onto her back and then walked off with the lightness in her step that only a shinobi could posses.

Rin walked through a few halls and a couple of door while in her mind going through various ways of tormenting the third-in-command without permanently damaging him and didn't stop her contemplations when she raised her foot and kicked open the door that was in front of her, revealing the leader of Takagun. Jūzei gave the swordswoman a look somewhat similar to one a parent would give a child, whom was throwing a tantrum and had no idea what to do with it.

"I want the reason why I was disturbed by the loudest idiot in Rukongai and I want it now," she stated, her bandaged hand gripping the leather-bound hilt of her sword a little tighter. Jūzei gave her a sharp look that had no effect what so ever as her glare did not falter the least, sand colored eyes still burning holes in him with their intense color.

"Do you remember the group we sent out a couple of days ago to check on our stash in the forest?"

"Yes," Rin answered, not really seeing how this was related to the disturbance of her nap.

"They're dead."

"And you want me to investigate," she concluded without missing a beat.

"Yes."  
"I suppose I should leave immediately?"

Jūzei nodded gravely with hard eyes. Rin understood why; she had lost many subordinates herself and when it was caused by foul play, which it obviously was in this case, she could be hell bent on revenge. Without any more conversation between the highest two in the Takagun hierocracy, Rin made a hand sign and disappeared.

It had started out simple enough: several patches of bloodied grass, remains of clothes, weapons and body parts and an odd energy around the scene. But the problem was the energy trace vanished. Neither she nor Shinja could find the smallest hint to where it went or what it even was. But one thing was certain – whoever or whatever did massacre the Takagun members was good at covering their trails. There was no clue whatsoever.

Reaching this conclusion only fueled her pent up irritations and she channeled chakra into one of the outer blades and let her frustrations out by impaling a bird against the trunk of a tree, the winged creature screeching in pain before going still as well as quiet. She retracted the blade and swung it harshly in a random direction while releasing the majority of her angry energy.

Looking back, that probably wasn't the best idea.

She heard an earsplitting, animalistic roar, and Shinja hissing from somewhere in the foliage. Rin turned around just in see a black, clawed equipped blur race towards her.

It was at times like this she really appreciated the training that Zabuza consistently had put her through since the first time they had met. She willed her senses to sharpen, focusing chakra into her eyes and ears and made everything look like they slowed down. She could catch every detail – the dark blue and green shades of the unidentified creature, the small smudges of blood and dirt that covered little patches of its bone white mask, the glinting of purple liquid – most likely a type of poison – that covered its tail and stretching claws. She Body Flickered to its right side and impaled it with Kizuken Kūseido in a backwards stab where the heart was commonly located in animals.

She pulled the triple blade out in a fast motion, blood dripping from both the edges of her weapon as well as from the fatal wound, tainting the forest floor with more patches of crimson. Shinja then jumped from his hiding place between the strands of grass and latched himself onto the throat of the creature, but the snake was hit by a waving claw.

Jumping up on a branch, she stared intently at the thing that had just killed her only link to her former world in fury. She determined it to be one of those Hollows Shinji had mentioned.

Her eyes narrowed as the wound started to heal. Regeneration? Even if it could regenerate, her hit with the force and angle used would have killed anything instantly. Was it possible that this was the reason the blond had told her to stay away from Hollows? What was it he said… something about… zanpakutō?

Her thought process was efficiently stopped as she jumped out from the tree on pure instinct when she heard the drastic change in the air and the sound of the Hollow close up on her with projectile speed. She thought she felt a familiar presence close by, but could not finish her thought.

'_Aim for the mask!_'

Rin flinched it shock of hearing the voice ring out in her mind and landed on the inside of her ankle. With a sickening crack as all of her bodyweight was transferred to the misplaced foot, she literally felt the bone snap in two.

'_The mask!_' the voice echoed in her mind. Rin swung her sword around with a sharp exhale of breath, slicing the lower right half of the mask off, which she then realized was made of bone. She jumped up on a nearby branch before launching herself forward with high speed, the two outer blades of her sword already extending forwards.

Looking back again, that probably was the _worst _idea. While she was mid-air the Hollow swirled around and swiped both of its claws as well as its tail against her from different sides. She dodged the tail with the difficulty that comes when having to move while jumping and also had to move Kizuken Kūseido to stop the claws from shredding her to ribbons.

She did not see the drops of poison on the Hollows tail that flew through the air before it was too late. She heard the voice ring clearly in her mind as she fell to the ground.

"Kura… ima… ru…"

Then there was nothing but blackness and pain.

* * *

The first thought that registered through Rin's head was the lack of the familiar weight of her sword. Secondly, she felt she was somehow restrained on her arms, wrists, torso, legs and feet – basically her whole body had been tied to whatever she was lying on. Then it was the smell of medicine, alcohol and something sterile – an infirmary.

'… _I hate infirmaries._'

She strained her senses and determined herself to be the only one in the room she occupied. Thankfully. She never handled weeping, whining people very well. Opening her eyes, she scanned the room and exhaled sharply in discontent at all the white, then stiffened as she realized something. The air was coming out way to easily. With nothing stopping it.

Almost like the universe was proving how much it hated her, she sensed a person approaching and sure enough, seconds later the handle was lowered and door opened to reveal a blond man with a sharp, angular face and swept back hair. For reasons Rin could not phantom, he was wearing some sort of dark-colored glasses. The man, clothed in loose black clothes, walked over to her bedside, gave a polite bow.

"Iemura Yasochika, 4th division 3rd seat," he introduced himself before opening a clipboard and began looking through the papers inside "You are in the 4th Squads healing barracks. How are you feeling?"

"Adequately fine," she replied, glaring with mistrusting at the man. Not that anyone could blame her really; she had just woken up god knows where with nothing but very fuzzy memories of why she was there in the first place and then a blond with sunglasses began asking her questions. And of course, her mistrusting nature and past experiences did not make it a whole lot easier to talk to strangers.

"Why am I tied up?" she asked, turning her face to hide it in the pillow. She couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious about her face, stupid as it may be.

"You managed to inflict some serious damage on our healers. You were unconscious at that time, so we had to restrain due to the uncertainty of what your behavior would be when you woke up."

So she went ninja when she was knocked out. Sweet.

"You were brought in with a few fractures, multiple cuts and bruises and several burns made by the acidic venom from what we assumed to be a Hollow," Iemura continued, occasionally stopping to check a few things on his clipboard "Everything has been healed although the scarring from the venom might not fade completely over time."

"Sure," she said in a dismissive tone, not particularly caring about scarring; a few more or less did not really make much of a difference anymore "Are you going to untie me?"

Iemura gave her a thoughtful look, but agreed and removed the straps after having asked a few more questions.

Rin sat up and moved her limbs around a bit, trying to get the stiffness that had entered her joint lessened. She then asked him to bring her some bandages, which he did albeit with a little hesitance, and then proceeded to re-wrap the lower half of her face. She turned and looked around the room but after scanning it thoroughly but not finding what she was looking for, she turned to the healer.

"Where is my sword?" she asked and Iemura pointed to the table next to her, where a wakizashi was placed atop. Rin narrowed her eyes; that sword was not Kizuken Kūseido.

"That's not my…"

"Actually, that pretty little thing _is _yer sword, Strawberry," came a lazy, matter-of-fact voice from the door.

"Hirako-taichō!" Iemura exclaimed and then stood to attention, saluting the superior that had just entered the room.

"Why is he here?" the now untied red-head asked the blond healer with some exasperation seeping through her voice. She was quite obviously not pleased to see the Taichō of 5th being there.

"You ought to speak with resp…"

"I go outta my way to saver ya and yer ain't even happy to see me? So cruel," Shinji interrupted the healer and then waved his hand dismissively at the other blond "Leave us, Iemura-san."

"Hai, Hirako-taichō."

After the 3rd seat had saluted and left, Shinji strolled over next to the red-head's bed side and waited. And waited. And waited some more.

"What? The Hollow messed up yer vocal chords too?" he said teasingly and shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

"Go away, Shinji, I have enough trouble breathing without your ego using up the airspace," she said with some annoyance, not even bothering to turn around to look at him.

"That's so hurtful," Shinji drawled with sarcasm laced in his words. When he did not get a reaction from the female, he casually raised his hand and flicked her over the nose. Or at least that had been his plan

"The hell, you blond numbskull?" Rin growled irritably, squeezing his finger with a little more pressure than necessary. After a few seconds of carefully applied pressure, Shinji made an odd, hurt sound and snatched his finger back, glaring slightly at the one he had now mentally decided to call 'the she-devil'. The look in her eyes matched the description pretty well to.

"Why did you save me?" she asked, surprising him slightly with her blunt words. He ought to be used to that by now.

"A momentary lapse in judgment," was the smart reply, followed by a Cheshire grin. Rin was not amused.

"Why did you save me?"

"Temporary insanity."

Rin huffed and glared at the blond who was grinning innocently back at her. She exhaled through her nose and after that a small series of chuckles followed; the blond could be impossible at times "Yeah, I figured it was something like that," she replied, tilting her head at him.

A small silence followed, but it was comfortable for both of the two as the both stared at nothing in particular.

"Can you get me out of here?" she then asked him with a barely noticeable amount of urgency in her muffled, hoarse voice. Shinji eyed her somewhat curiously, a small frown visible between his eyebrows as he looked at her hard gaze that was focused anywhere but where he was.

"Ya hate hospitals," he said. It was a statement; not a question. Rin's expression did not change but after a few moments of stillness she sighed and swung her feet over the side of the bed and turned her back to the blond.

"Can you or can you not? It's a simple question; even a blond should be able to answer that."

"Why do you hate hospitals so much?" he asked back, his voice turning a bit harder because of her constant avoidance of direct answers. How could she expect to get any sort of help if she gave no other reason than 'just because'.

It was a moment before Rin answered. She turned her head and looked at him over her shoulder with calculating eyes, as if she was debating whether or not she could trust him. Which she probably was doing. Her sand colored orbs turned distant and she turned away from him again.

Shinji was convinced she was ignoring him on purpose and shifted his weight, about to get up and leave the room, when her voice broke through the silence.

"I've seen too many be carried in and never come out," she said in a blank voice, unwavering and void of emotion. Her voice turned a little softer "Too many times I've almost not come out."

Shinji said nothing and the red head did not speak again either. He walked up to the other side of the bed and stopped in front of her, trying to catch her gaze, but her eyes were focused on the ground. He gave a small sigh and sat down on the bed next to her.

Nothing was said. It was just two people taking in the calmness of the other.

Rin made a questioning sound when Shinji placed the wakizashi in her hands. She stared at the blade in her lap for a few seconds and then wrapped her hand around the hilt. An odd, yet familiar feeling and sense of warmth spread through her as she held her zanpakutō in her hand for the first time, all thoughts of Kizuken Kūseido disappearing as she felt like two halves of her had suddenly been reunited after a long time apart.

'Kuraimaru,' she thought, the name feeling so right.

'_The one and only. You finally learned my name, Master,_' the voice she had heard on occasions before sung through her mind, but for once it was not unappreciated.

The serene look in the woman's eyes told Shinji everything he needed to know; it did not matter if he could see all of her face or not.

Getting up, he gave her a pad on the shoulder and then began to walk out. Rin turned to look at his retreating form and raised an eyebrow when he stopped hesitantly before the door. Shinji turned to give her a toothy grin, "I'll be seeing ya," he said before walking out.

"Yeah," Rin said quietly, stroking the blade that was a part of her soul. Her eyes lit up with determination as she got to her legs and dashed over to the window and opened it. She turned to look at the spot where the blond had just left, a small smirk growing underneath her bandages "Yeah, you will."

* * *

**I think this turned out pretty well. I hope you think so too (:**

**Alright, so same questions as last chapter:**

**1) Should Rin be exiled with the rest of the guys? Should she be a Visored?**

**2) I'm still unsure about where to place Rin. I'm personally thinking she would fit best in the Onmitsukidō (The Stealth Force - not in the any of the Squads of Gotei 13), but what are your thoughts?**

**- C**


	5. Deal

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm back~! I could probably fill up a whole chapter with reasons why I was unable to update, so I'll just spare you the rambling and say it simply – I'll be more regular with updates from now on. My apologies.

Now that that's out of the world, I want to respond to a review, which had a point I was surprised had not been mentioned more: Rin ought to kick more ass.

Yes, she does! And she is going to kick _major _ass in the future, trust me. But let's look at it objectively: Her fight with the Zombie Twins was a lost cause. Not even mega-ultra-kick-ass-awesome Naruto could take them both down at the same time and he had the Kyūbi. So of course, she could not win that. Her fight with the Hollow... I actually debated a lot on how to write the fight, but I thought what has been posted was the most realistic. She has never encountered a Hollow before, she does not have a zanpakutō and it can regenerate. Maybe it's just me, but I thought it would be more realistic if she did not come out of that fight as the winner... But hey, who says the author is always right?

Anyways, I just wanted to give a shout out to whoever wrote that (it was anonymous) and thank you a lot! I thought it was a brilliant point to make, and quite frankly, I'm really glad that someone noticed. So yeah, you rock!

To all the readers, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

DISCLAIMER: As much as I want it to be, it's still not mine. Damn it.

**This is dedicated to Nichlas, for still being a part of me even though you're in another place now.**

* * *

The shrill screech of a bird rang out loudly in the night, cutting through the silence that had settled over the 1st district with its high-pitched sound. A gentle breeze was blowing, shaking the leaves of the many trees and other vegetation as it swept across Seireitei and Rukongai. The sun had settled and its white opposite shone from the indigo colored skies above, casting its light and bathing everything an eerie glow. Atop one of the many well-maintained roofs, a lonely figure sat, staring on the shining orb above with a contemplative expression.

Rin pulled her wakazashi from its dark grey sheath, scanning her newly obtained blade with as much concentration as she would an enemy. Her pale, sand-colored eyes ran over every plain and crease of it, trying to find flaws or other lacking elements but were left wanting. The blade was in perfect condition.

She turned her eyes away from the zanpakutō, the now manifested part of her soul. Due to her astonishing lack of knowledge about the peculiar little thing the lazy blond had named her zanpakutō, she had used a simple transformation jutsu to turn into the same person and had asked questions about her type of new found weapon, pretending to be a captain that were testing the knowledge of the guardians of Soul Society. It had worked flawlessly and she had also found some sense of satisfaction in how most seemed surprised to be approached. Apparently, that Hirako Shinji truly _was_ a lazy blond.

The only thing that could be considered lacking was the voice of her zanpakutō spirit that had been disturbing both her awakened as well as sleeping hours. It was now completely absent, something which Rin both were thankful and resentful for. Despite how she no longer had a voice ring out in her mind at random intervals and at rather inconvenient times as well. But without that strangely familiar, resounding voice whispering to her, she felt... incomplete. As if there was something missing; something that should be there but she had forgotten.

Which was why she was sitting far from the headquarters of Takagun, silently contemplating what her next move should be. She was not going to join that laughable Shinigami Academy thingy; she had had enough of 'education' back in Kirigakure although she was pretty certain that the graduation exam was a whole lot different with these mushy, self-righteous Shinigami than what she had done. She heard some talk than the exam had been changed a couple of years later and had laughed aloud. She had been one of few that had supported the exam procedure fully. If children couldn't handle that, they had no business carrying weapons . And so far, she was thoroughly convinced that none of those goody-two-shoes was made out of anything besides hot air.

Perhaps she was being overly generalizing but she had yet to see anything that proved her wrong. She lowered her gaze to look at a pack of those patrolling twats strolling down the street, chatting quietly amongst themselves, neither of them paying attention to the fact that there was a trespasser mere meters above their heads. As a matter of fact, they did not even look around the street at all. She huffed in disdain. If they had groups just lazing around, they seriously ought to send them to the lower districts, but _no. _They did not want to pick a fight with those _lower _class people, that were_ brute and uncivilized, _as she had heard a pair of women call the inhabitants of the lower districts one of the many times she had sneaked through the upper living put it simply, the Shinigami did not have any control and did not have the guts to do anything about. Or the skill, for that matter.

Although Rin had only spent very little time in Seireitei in her disguise of the 5th division's captain, she had had no problem with assessing the general strength of the people she saw. She had always had a knack for assessment and her conclusions did not do much to improve her opinion of the zanpakutō wielding warriors. Even though the lazy blond had told her that the zanpakutō was a part of the wielder's soul, she had not seen any of the Shinigami wear it besides Shinji himself. What was the point in having a weapon if one did not carry it along? Or were the Shinigami really that confident and naive as to think that they did not need to?

She had been in the Soul Society for what she had estimated to be a few years – accurate calculation was never her strong side unless it was battle-related – and she had met more than enough fighters of the different districts (killed a fair amount of them too) to be sure that in the case of the various gangs and groups banding together, they would probably be enough for an actual army. And adding her knowledge of the security systems and patrols they could, albeit with some difficulty, but do so none the less, sneak into the first five districts and raze the upper class into the dust without much of a fight. Of course they were not going to do so, but she was thoroughly annoyed that the possibility was even there. Rin had never been one to go for the easy challenge and she had no joy in defeating weaker opponents. On the contrary, she felt slightly disgusted when incompetent people were involved with something that could mean life and death for others. It simply pissed her off. Speaking of which...

"I wasn't aware that you liked standing so much, Shinji," she said aloud in a slightly amused voice, not bothering to look away from the sky. She heard him scoff and that particular sound of the air rapidly moving that could be heard whenever he did those flashy steps of his. He sat down next to her as she wondered, not for the first time, how he managed to have so much free time. She remembered the amount of paperwork that she had done in her earlier years as a commander before she made her way to her last position as Shushō where there thankfully had not been any paperwork – it was not like one could just write down things that was not supposed to be on record anywhere.

"And I wasn't aware yer were so observant," he replied, leaning his weight on his hands.

"Don't push it, Goldilocks," she scoffed. She traced random patterns on the hilt of her zanpakutō with one hand and looked down, sweeping her eyes over the streets. The so-called patrol had long since stopped and were talking, gathered in a loose circle. A devious smirk formed beneath her face bandages as she gazed upon the one that was currently talking, a muscular, confident looking male with brown hair. She discreetly put her hands together and made some hand sings. Her eyes squinted together in amusement as she saw how the man's expression suddenly turned into one of utter terror and his jaw fell open as he stared at something behind his comrades. She saw the patrolling Shinigami whirl around like headless chickens, yelling, and whipping their heads in every direction and generally just making a lot of unnecessary noise. She looked at the laughable state they were in and the utterly hilarious expressions that made their way across their faces as they realized that their friend was seemingly making a prank. However, the brown haired Shinigami then screamed loudly and fell to his feet, fighting something that was not there, his hands flailing about. Then suddenly Shinji appeared amongst them, looking wearily around.

"Restrain him," he said casually even though Rin found the tense posture of his body language to be a dead give-away that he was hardly in a relaxed mood. Rin's eyes narrowed into slits and she exhaled sharply. Way to ruin the fun, stupid blond. As if he could sense her train of thought, Shinji suddenly turned his head and locked eyes with her.

Rin stared back and felt a tinge of triumph when the blond suddenly turned around as he heard screams ring out from the patrol only to turn around to find each of them unconscious, sprawled on the dirt road. She held back a chuckle and jumped up, darting soundlessly away across the rooftops. She Body Flickered a fair distance when she, as she had expected, sensed Shinji closing in on her. Fast. She grinned from beneath her face bandages and sped off, putting distance between her and her chaser without much difficulty.

Maybe it was because she had lived a life where she had used to consider a day without at least five attempts on her life as dull, but she was tired of the bland living in Soul Society. So she was thoroughly enjoying the thrill of running with a hunter on her trail, childish as it may be. She felt her how her chakra levels were depleting fast and stopped her running when her feet touched the next flat of solid ground. Holding her ground, she waited for the blond to catch up to her and not many seconds had passed before she could hear the changes of the nearby air and hear the sound of sandals clattering down on the ground a small distance behind her.

"What didya do?" she heard the unmistakable drawl of Shinji, only this time there was a sternness and accusative tone in his voice she had not heard before. Rin raised her eyebrows at him, not bothering to answer. It was far to amusing to see the flustered Taichō glaring at her as if he could intimidate her into speaking. Well, he was a good sum of years too late for that to work.

"_Rin_," he said, his voice turning flat and cold "I know ya did somethin' to 'em, now tell me what."

The red head still did not say anything but continued to stare at him with a pleased glint in her eyes. Shinji stepped closer, deliberately silencing his steps and stopped when there were less than a foot of space between the two of them. Rin was having trouble from chuckling as she saw the hard glare he gave her. She was probably not acting very considerate but it was downright laughable the way he thought he could stare her into submission. It was at times like these she was tempted to give him a small taste of what she could do. The expression on his face would simply be priceless.

She held his gaze and raised a single eyebrow when the blond continued to glare at her. It seemed like she had indulged herself in an involuntary battle of staring. They continued to look at each other, Shinji burning holes into the woman while Rin was looking blandly back. She was starting to gain a little more respect for the man, actually, unbelievable as it may sound. Not many would willingly look her in the eyes, neither when she was alive nor in Soul Society. She was infamous in the Takagun ranks for her malevolent tendencies as well as her terror-inspiring snake that was always with her. Of course it might have something to with how the blond she was currently locking gazes with had yet to see her annihilate dozens of men within seconds and then complain about the easiness of it while talking to a snake. Yes, that would most likely contribute to a small change in his impression of her. Just a little bit.

"Whataya hidin'?" Shinji broke the silence that had settled between them in a surprisingly quiet voice. He sounded hesitant, as if he was not quite sure if he was asking the right question but at the same time with a hint of desperation in his voice.

"You're the one that's always following me around, why don't you tell me," Rin replied, still holding his gaze just like he was hers.

"Didn't ya figure anythin' out from wakin' up in that infirmary?" he exclaimed with exasperation and Rin narrowed her eyes in response.

"You point," she asked, beginning to grow annoyed with his persistence. She was never good with other people and she was fighting a strong urge to kill and/or maim him to get him to shut the hell up – something she usually did when she was growing bored with questions. Then she would not have to bother with his endless curiosity.

"What's gonna happen if ya meet another Hollow, eh? How are ya gonna fight it?" he questioned.

"Kill it, chop it, put it in a stew," she answered with a deadpan expression, matching her flat voice. Her hand was already placed around the hilt of her blade. She was really getting tired of the blond.

"How well did that go last time, huh? Ya have no idea what yer zanpakutō can do, do ya?"

"And you do? How _nice_," she retorted sharply, not bothering to hide her annoyance.

"Why do ya always want to do everythin' by yerself? In case you haven't noticed, yer almost got killed by a pathetic Hollow."

"Why're you being so protective? I don't care about your Shinigami hero-complex. You can try to save the rich all you won't but stop trying to save me."

"The ri- what?" he asked, dumbfounded "What the hell are ya talkin' 'bout?"

"Have your kind ever tried to do anything for the people beyond the 65h district? No? I didn't think so either,_ Shinji._"

"_My _kind? Then tell me, what's yerkind then, _Rin_?_" _he shot back, dragging out her name with disdain and mocking noticeable in his tone. Sand colored eyes went cold, their warm tone turning into hard rock.

"You would know if you actually tried to do something besides trying to be a hero, oh masculine leader._"_

"Well someone has to be, 'cause _yer_ always 'bout to get killed whenever yer alone!_"_

"One single time has that happened. You really are a dumb blond, aren't you..._"_

"Why do I even bother with you?" Shinji raised his voice in anger and frustration, dropping his heavy accent.

"Then _don't._ If you don't care and I don't care, then there's no bloody problem!"

Both of them had raised their voice and where quite literally in each others faces. If looks could kill there would be corpses on the ground. Shinji did not reply to her and neither did Rin make a move to speak again, the last sentence hanging in the air between them. She really did put the whole problem into a nutshell, did she not? Why were they even arguing? Why did a man like Shinji, a Taichō none the less, spend so much time trying to track down one, who was just another soul out of many? But that was just it. She was not just another soul. She had the power to prove it and it frustrated the blond into the next century how she refused to do anything for anyone but herself.

As the silence grew, it was like neither could look away, both wanting to leave yet could not let this go without getting the question out in the open. Rin felt like Shinji was beginning to tread onto dangerous ground, ground he should not know was there. She raised her two hands-

"_Don't_..." he began, but stopped when the red haired fighter disappeared, leaving only a cloud of smoke. He watched the grey lines mingle and disappear into the air around him and was left alone, with his questions unanswered once again.

* * *

Rin made her way through the filthy streets of the 80th district, running across the rooftop and avoided the many wholes and loose stones by instinct rather than observation. Her head was swirling with thoughts, plans and calculations.

'_I need to kill something,' _was the thought that repeated through her mind as she turned around and began running towards the higher districts – the 76th to be precise – to find the Takagun base. Something did not feel right. She had an unexplainable sense of wariness over her and she increased her speed, barely letting her feet hit one piece of solid surface before she was onto the next. She slowed down as she had reached halfway through the 77th and focused her attention on the noises around her. People were whispering in urgent voices and there was a lack of the shouts and sounds of various fighting that were always a part of it. Rin let her eyes dart around, taking in every detail as she reached the 76th. Everything was quiet and the streets and shacks abandoned. It was at times like these she could use the company and enhanced senses of Shinja, but of course that was no longer an option. She continued to run, the wind pushing against her and twirled her long ponytail around, the red strands dancing behind her. She was getting closer to the base when a strong wind blew against her and she halted in her step, landing in a crouch with her blade draws, ready to attack.

It smelled like blood. Lots of it.

The tangy smell was heavy in the air and Rin jumped down from the roof to land soundlessly on the dirt road below. The wind picked up as she walked the rest of the way to the base, not necessarily calmed by the lack of presences that she could normally sense. As she turned a corner, she scoffed as she saw the scene that greeted her. She was neither surprised nor appalled, but resigned as she took in the carnage that was displayed in front of her eyes. Corpses were scattered and blood was smeared over both the ground and buildings. She both heard and sensed that someone was still alive and she strolled over to crouch down in front of the one and only leader of Takagun. He was holding his hand over his ribcage and she saw with grim distaste where his wound was located – right next to his heart, the weapon having missed the instantly fatal spot by mere centimeters. It appeared like something had pierced him, most likely a dagger of knife. It was an excruciating way to die. He would not be able to do anything but wait for his death as the acid from his stomach would enter into the hollow of his chest and slowly poison him from the inside. The massacre must have been very resent if he was still alive.

"Who?" she asked him, not bothering to show concern or kindness for the dying man that had been her leader for the past few years.

"Ishigaki's. The 68th of South..." he got out between pained breaths. His face contorted in a grimace but he caught her eyes and nodded to her "Do it... quickly."

The red head said nothing but understood his wish. She walked behind his and sliced through the back of his neck, cutting through the nerve threads, instantly killing him. She wiped her dark grey blade clean of blood in Jūzei's shirt and then put it back in its sheath.

Rin then walked over to the nearest corpse, a body of a large man lying face down in the dirt. She turned him over with her foot, pretty sure that he did not care all that much. She bend down and inspected the wounds with professional expertise before standing up and did the same to the next body. She continued that way until she had found and determined the cause of death on each deceased, most of which were Takagun members, the bird tattoo easily recognizable. A total of 59 had been killed, a few civilians and enemies from the Ishigaki's among the Takagun corpses.

She stood up and looked around the scene of the massacre with appreciation. She had not been dubbed 'Akashura' for no reason. To here, there were a hidden beauty in the chaos of carnage. The lines and circles of crimson covering the surrounding surfaces in endless patterns, of blood. It was simply the beauty of death.

* * *

"Why didya come back?"

"Because I can't get enough of your never ending supply of pointless questions. You?" Rin returned his question with her own as she heard his footsteps come closer and he sat down next to her. She turned her head when she felt his gaze and true enough, he was glaring at her before looking away and giving a heavy sigh.

"This seems similar..." Shinji said, trailing off. They were both staring ahead of them without talking but the silence was not uncomfortable. They were both aware that neither of them were going to apologize and were simply enjoying the calmness of yet another night in the 1st district. They were both aware of each other but the silence settles between them and an hour passed by without any movements from either side.

"Have ya spoken to yer zanpakutō yet?"

"Of course. In fact, we had an intelligent debate on tea the other night," she answered, her voice dripping with sarcasm. He took that as a 'no'.

"Ya need to learn how to control it," he said, glancing at her and tried to gauge her reaction. There was no change of expression and her tone was calm, but he had definitely not expected the words that came from her lips.

"I know." Rin felt bitter as she spoke the words. For her, it was the same as asking for help, which was one of the few things she had managed to avoid quite well in her few (according to Soul Society measurements) years. She new Shinji was most likely in need of some time to pick up his jaw from the ground, so she rested one arm on her knee and placed her head on top of it.

"The Academy entrance exams aren't that far away. Ya should go then."

"Do I look like Academy material to you?"

"Yes, Strawberry, yer do."

The answer made Rin turn her head again and look searchingly at the blond's face. If she said she was not a tad surprised, she would be lying. Not that she would care about doing so, but still.

"Ya know, yer pretty prejudiced... One of the Taichō is from the 69th."

"Because that makes so much difference to me," she scoffed, turning her head to look up at the star filled sky above. She could hear Shinji make a small sound of frustration and found some amusement in that. There was just something pleasurable about putting the blond on edge.

"Yer wastin' yer powers," Shinji said and she could feel him burning holes in her head. Rin took a breath and turned to meet his gaze.

"You teach me what you know – especially those steps that almost caught up to me – and I'll take those Academy entrance thingy. Agreed?"

"... Then what's the point in goin' to the Academy?"

"The point is that I won't have to go there for long, before I'm out, oh wise Taichō."

Shinji was looking at her with a surprised expression. But a few seconds later his eyes glinted and he gave her his Cheshire grin.

"My, my, are ya askin' for help?"

Rin pulled her blade out with blurring speed and pressed it lightly to his neck, not hard enough to do damage but still enough to draw a little blood and gave him a cold look "Don't even go there."

"Yare, yare..." he said in a smug voice "Touchy ain't..." he trailed off as he saw her eyes narrow but kept his grin in place. He pushed the blade lightly with his hand and pulled out his own zanpakutō, and Rin was immediately on full alert.

"Calm down, I ain't goin' to attack ya," he said as he placed the blade in his lap and closed his eyes. Rin was debating whether or not he was being particularly dumb or just mocking her. No one closed their eyes to an enemy.

But... did she still consider them enemies?

"First lesson", he began in a voice of authority "If ya can't talk to yer zanpakutō, yer done for. So get down and do like me."

Rin mimicked his posture and closed her eyes, not feeling particularly vulnerable. She was still confident that she could kill anything within a three hundred feet radius even without her sight.

"Now close yer eyes and let go of all yer thoughts..."

* * *

Hope it gives some hints to the direction I'm taking this story. If it doesn't... well, too bad :) Anyway, now there is - as always:

**Questions of the chapter:**

**I'm not sure if I should write out all of Rin's academy experiences. What do you think? Should they fill up the whole next chapter or should I just quickly summarize them and move into her time as a full-fledged Shinigami? It depends on what you readers want :)**

**The mysterious fourth division of the ****Onmitsukidō – what do you think it is? I have my own ideas but I would love to hear your thoughts on it.**

Thank you for making it through the chapter – I am of the belief that every reader is totally awesome~! (If anyone gets that reference, I just might love you for eternity!)

- C


	6. Soul

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I solemnly swear to try to be faster with my updates. Also, I began writing another story on AFF. Already halfway through chapter 9 there. So... I hope you still like reading this story even though I'm a horrible updater.

DISCLAIMER: Not mine... witty comment... don't sue me.

Thought of the day: Am I the only one who has an unhealthy obsession with K-Pop? (… and still refuses to pick sides between JYJ and TVXQ? Always keep the faith!)

* * *

Rin was crouching down on the edge of a rooftop, eyes scanning the crowded scene in front of her. As she was observing and calculating, only one thought remained the same as she watched the mob of people move around.

_'I am going to murder him...'_

This had to be the far most laughable scene she had witnessed so far. A long line of civilians pushing and tripping over their own feet in order to make it to the small, white building which had a sign saying 'Exams' above the entrance. There were children, both the ones that were clearly from noble families as well as skinny, dirty-looking ones, muscular and well-built men towering over the small, elderly and scrawny looking people around of them. It was a small chaos and each of those that had showed up were there for the same thing. Some of them because it was expected of them, some of them were there because they simply had nothing else to do and some them in search of a brighter future. She thought it was all a big joke.

'_I am going to regret ever agreeing to that stupid deal... Stupid, blond moron'_

As much as the setting was pissing her of, the exam made her want to trash the whole thing. All you had to do was stand there, look like a fool, and then someone, whom she could beat while being covered from head to toe and a feet-thick layer of cement and her eyes closed, tell you if you passed or not. If it wasn't because she had an utterly illogical urge to somewhat be able to see how this ridiculous army-ish thing worked from the inside, she would have destroyed the whole thing before walking away to find a place to watch the clouds. Pretty standard.

Rin made her way to the exam table, distracting herself from the urge to raze it to the ground by thinking of how many ways she could kill that Shinji with different things. '_Eighty-five with my hands, forty-two with my elbows... forty-three? No, forty-two...'_

"Congratulations, you may proceed into the auditorium. Please follow where everyone else is going."

Rin said nothing and began strolling in the direction that the successful people were heading. There was a large building that they were entering. It was right there, obvious and in the middle. Perfect for attacking. These people seriously did not know how to build a decent defence. _'… one hundred and eighteen with a senbon, seventy-eight with a chakra string, thirty-four with a normal piece of sturdy string.'_

She entered the academy, glancing with hidden distaste at the people gathered. She walked to the back row of benches and sat down, feet propped onto the back of the bench in front of her. She began analysing and categorizing the people that gathered in the auditorium to keep her mind occupied. She had counted seventy-three so far and had only found a few of them to seem like genin level in terms of balance, behaviour, and energy. The rest, she would have thrown into the nearest river if it had been back in Kiri. Preferably one with dangerous species in it. She saw a loud, tattooed man walk in and push away the people in his way. She narrowed her eyes.

Precisely four minutes and thirty-two seconds after the last of the new academy student had entered, the doors were opened by a large figure, flanked by two others. Whispers immediately broke out everyone and Rin tilted her head and gathered her sensing abilities to feel the energy of the old, large one, who was obviously the highest ranking of those who had arrived. They made their way to the middle, atop of a wooden platform when the old man suddenly turned and looked in her direction. Rin hissed lowly and retreated her chakra sensing field.

The man's energy was something she had never encountered before – it was of incomparable density and it was blazing hot; her sensors had protested and retreated because of the intense heat the moment they managed to get close enough to accurately measure his power. With all of her ninja senses tingling in alarm, she redirected her chakra to focus in her eyes. There was a large layer around the man, but there was also a bright, red tint around the cane he had in between his large hands. She saw him change his eyes to look in her direction again and she released the chakra from her eyes, wrinkling her nose at the stinging sensation it left afterwards. But she did not turn her eyes away.

* * *

After an introduction speech, they went home only to return early the next morning. Rin had spent the night practising the Shunpo technique Shinji had showed her the last time they encountered each other. It was theoretically simple and easy in practice and it only took her two tries before she had gotten accustomed to the technique. But still, it was much different from Body Flickering, so in a moment of genius ingenuity she had found a way to merge the two techniques together, saving both chakra and reiatsu while being faster and easier to manoeuvre than either of the two.

The first lesson in the academy was ethics. Yes, ethics. Rin was debating whether or not she should question the sensei until he broke down crying on his proper but utterly useless morals, but decided against it. As much as she was bored, she had never been one to attract unnecessary attention. That did not, however, mean that she had to like it. Rin raised an eyebrow when the teacher droned on about how it was a Shinigami's duty to protect those weaker than himself. Obviously this was not a virtue that was used in the real world but it did not seem like any of the other academy students had managed to understand this fact. They were all looking at him with amazed eyes. Idiots.

After hours of useless talk came a lesson in sword fighting, or zanjutsu as they fancied calling it around here. Rin felt a bit of interest at this and opened her eyes to look at the sensei that had just entered. He was a slender, agile looking man who had the appearance of someone in their late twenties.

"Students, let me start out by saying that this class is not for talking or ethics. It's for learning the art of zanjutsu. To those of you who haven't brought a sword, there is a rack of training swords you can select from on the right wall. Now everyone get a sword and get in line."

Rin sat in her seat while the others quickly shuffled down to the rack and lined up in front of the podium. Deciding she would rather observe than participate in this folly, she used a camouflage jutsu to blend in with the surroundings, too lazy to bother use a genjutsu against the mass of people. She had to held back a scoff when she was how utterly unskilled everyone of the students were. A few of them managed to hold their ground against the sensei for more than a few seconds, but they were lacking in every aspect of sword fighting: Their balance was off, their centre of gravity was not proper, they held the swords wrong, they didn't have enough force or precision... she could have continued listing things in her mind but it was just a waste of time.

Then it was the turn of that large, tattooed guy that had acted like a fool earlier. Moving her fingers a bit, she created a small chakra string. The idiot man then promptly fell with a loud thud. There was a moment of completely silence then snickers and laughs could be heard from all the other students. The sensei just narrowed his eyes.

The fall was the most interesting thing that happened that day; it seemed like Shinigami was enslaved by a constant pressure to lecture morals and ethics. Useless.

As the day ended, Rin found a remote piece of forest where she trained her mash-up of Shunpo and Body Flickering. Because it was pretty simple, she had decided to train a bit more with the manoeuvrability than the distance per step. Hence why she was narrowly dodging various branches and twigs hour after hour while thinking up different ways to inflict pain on a certain blond for talking her into joining that laughable academy.

* * *

Classes at the academy did not turn out to be more informative as the next few days passed by. Apparently everyone felt the need to explain everything, that most people with average mental capacity could figure out by themselves, in such a way that one felt dumber after listening to it. Due to an excessive amount of boredom, Rin had begun fine-tuning ninja skills that had previously had a lower priority in her mind in favour of strong battle jutsus. She had find various ways of using genjutsu to entertain herself during lectures without it causing any attention and she had used an ethics lesson to create a drawing of her old Kizuken Kūseido in chakra strings just above the sensei's head – of course she had made the strings invisible, another skill she had been working on.

So far, Rin had yet to see Shinji since she entered the academy and he was most likely avoiding her. Smart kid; he probably knew she would have messed his mind up so badly he would have killed himself if she had met him during the first days at the bloody thing they called academy.

The lessons were boring and flawed and the senseis were even worse. When the zanjutsu sensei had – for reasons she could not phantom – decided he would use her to show a mock-fight, she had simply avoided a lot of strikes before knocking him out by using the butt of her zanpakutō. Rumours had it that he had need a ranked officer from the Fourth Squad to reverse the damage to his skull. Amusing. She didn't even use a lot of force. Although she initially had decided not to attract attention to herself, that plan had been thrown away when she realized that she had become notorious amongst both students and teachers within the first days because of her appearance, and most importantly, because she already had her own zanpakutō. This made people scared to approach her and Rin was immensely pleased by the fact. She knew she would most likely have to fight the urge to stab her zanpakutō into the throat of all these idealistic morons if they decided to speak with her.

Of course, her being notorious also had its perks. Within a week, she had entered the zanjutsu class normally reserved for the best graduating students and in two months, she was in the top half of students in all of the advances, practical classes. In all of the more theory-oriented classes, however, Rin was the absolute bottom student since she had never participated in anything but strictly attending. Reading books, doing assignments was something she had no intention of doing and she stuck to her principle. If a sensei ever noticed, they had never said anything to her about it.

She did not really find anything particularly interesting although she had her eyes on kidō. Not because she found it intriguing or anything of that sort but because it reminded her of using jutsu and even though using kidō wasn't as easy for her as most else, she actually found her self trying hard to master the spells even if her approach sometimes was a bit different from the rest of the students. Mostly because she had usually only had to remember names, techniques and faces and had a serious dislike for remembering long pieces of text. Also because her memory had never been that great although she would never admit so.

One particular incident with kidō had left quite an impression and sparked up a lot of talk about her. It had been one of her first kidō lesson with the advanced graduating class after she had spent a little more than a month and a half in the Shinhō academy. The sensei had taken two students at a time to the front. The task had been simple: destroy the ten targets first using whatever means you are capable of. Rin had been the final student alongside some dark-haired man. When the two of then stepped forward, a complete silence fell over the class and when she glance out of the corner of her eye, Rin saw that even the sensei looked slightly nervous. The man looked at her with a calculating expression on his face and her hand subconsciously formed half of the tiger sign in defence. She relaxed her hand and turned to face the targets.

"Ready? Begin!"

Rin kept half a mind on the man that was reciting a long incantation at what would most likely be impossible speed for anyone else while she raised her both of her hands. Small, purple balls of light formed in the air in front of her fingertips and she sent all of the deadly beams with exact precision towards her targets. Rin lowered her hands, cocked her head to the side and looked at her work for a few seconds, not really satisfied. She lowered her hands and turned her head to the side and waited for a few seconds. She let her eyes turn up and saw a light forming and turned her gaze down again in time to see man finish his incantation and a bright light engulfed the field before it disappeared. She looked from her own targets where the round circles had been cut off with surgical precision from the wooden poles to the man's targets that had been mostly eradicated except for a few remains of pole here and there. Rin continued to sweep her eyes across her targets, noticing a small finger-nail sized part of one pole that had not been cut as precisely as the others. She only absent-mindedly listened to all the shocked whispers and not so discreet talks of the other students, more out of paranoid habit than because they were saying anything remotely relevant.

"Pass," the sensei then bellowed, silencing the students and Rin smirked under her face bandages in amusement when she heard the light shaking in the beginning of the sensei's sentence. Seriously, did people have nerves of the same consistence as cream?

Rin stepped back and the students moved away from her a little. She mentally huffed at them, not sure if she should laugh or pity them.

* * *

Rin sat in a clearing in a forest somewhere in the West 20th district with her zanpakutō placed in her lap completely unmoving. The wind was occasionally sweeping by and ruffles the leaves with a gentle sound. Shinji had let it slip that if you trained yourself to the brick of death a handful or two times, then it would pay off. Exactly what pay-off it would give had he not said anything about. Cryptic, blond git. So Rin had spent the last months or so doing exactly that. Whenever she had had decent enough time, she had trained and pained herself past the point of consciousness and now was the time to see if it had done any good. Rin had deliberately avoided making contact to her zanpakutō spirit on her own accord until she felt like the connection was strong. Sort of backwards, but she had noticed how that clear, crisp voice would call to her whenever she went past her limit, telling her to be careful and occasionally stopping her went she almost went too far.

Rin cleared her mind and waited for a few minutes in order to be completely calm before she went into her self and looked for the spirit. It was hard to explain, the feeling of another part of you. It was like this dark but glowing ball of energy that pulled at her. The closer she got, the more safe she felt, but she had never been able to touch it. She was going uphill, almost vertically, to finally be able to touch that ball of whatever it was. She did not even know _why _she was going after it but it felt... right. And she knew she would find something important when she reached it. Maybe she would be able to talk directly to her zanpakutō spirit or maybe it would just turn out to be nothing at all.

As she was running up she felt someone... something close up on her and narrowly dodged some sort of swipe to her head by ducking quickly. Rin focused some of her chakra and could feel something, but it wasn't really a _thing_. It was more like a presence but not really there. While she was trying to define the undefinable mass, she continued to dodge the black swipes that persistently tried to make her stop moving forward. It was getting darker as she came closer to the shining orb or maybe the light was fading. She did not know what was even right or wrong any more; she just knew she had to reach the top. She hissed when she felt something wrap around her lower arm and snap her body backwards but she threw a random kidō at it and she continued forward while gritting her teeth. The kidō had not been very precise and her arm felt like it had been singed deeply as if with a burning hot sword but she did not slow down even the slightest.

She heard something shift in the air and Body Flickered forward. She was almost there. Only mere meters away...

"Do you think it is going to be that easy?"

Rin froze in her track and stood completely still. That voice was one she would recognize anywhere. She lowered her arm to her side and grasped the hilt of her zanpakutō and prepared all of her senses for a fight.

"You are going to try to beat me with myself? Foolish," the voice rang out and Rin jumped backward, barely avoiding some sort of black blur. Already before she hit the ground, she knew her zanpakutō was gone. Jumping to avoiding to black tentacles, Rin made a long series of hand signs before she clapped her palms together and sent a wall of impenetrable density in the direction she felt the spirit was in.

"Foolish," the voice said again and Rin used Shunpo to get away from it without getting her shoulder cut off. She grabbed her shoulder where it had been cut deeply through and she could feel how it had made it through the tendons and a part of the shoulder bone as well. Smart move. Now she couldn't use that arm. Rin closed her eyes for a moment and focused on the sounds around her but had to move in order to escape death again. This game of hunter and pray continued for a period of time; minutes, hours, Rin had no idea. It was her trying to avoid getting hit but it was obvious that the other had the upper hand. She had gradually been chased further and further away from the top and she had yet to identify what sort of _ thing _the opponent even was. All of her jutsu had been nullified when she lost the ability to move her right arm properly and with no sword, her biggest advantage was lost... wait, sword?

Rin deliberately slowed down a bit and then suddenly sped backwards with Shunpo and jammed her nail above where she could see the glint of her zanpakutō. Without missing a beat she grabbed the sword and dashed away to the dark orb. She felt the presence gain on her quickly but with a desperate push of chakra, she reached her hand out and felt her fingers touch the orb. Then there was nothing but silence. The orb turned cold. Too cold, but she could not take her hand away. She instinctively knew that she had to hold on until it was over.

She felt the surface change under her to become harsh, crunching gravel and she could hear the wind and feel it tugging her hair, whipping it around her face. She narrowed her eyes and turned around the moment she opened her eyes. This was definitely not dark.

She was standing on a flat plain and as she walked to the edge and looked around, she saw she was on top of a large, jagged mountain with spikes and deep crevices all over the place. The ground below was mixes of sand and gravel with scarce patches of dried out grass or bushes scattered far away from each other.

"Using energy to avoid until choosing the right moment to strike. Swift, simple. You're not as foolish as you seem, are you?"

Rin did not turn around when she heard the voice but continued to look around. This place made her feel queasy, odd but strangely... familiar. It felt unknown but not in a bad way... the feeling she had when she looked across the desolate plain was hard to put into words.

"Where is this?" she asked and her voice was carried away by the win.

"Your soul."

Rin snorted "I'm too old to believe in that stuff."

"It is. And deep down, you know it."

Rin said nothing but continued to look at the jagged and cracked mountain. The parts that had fallen off and the crevices were large and plentiful "Why is it so..." she began but trailed off. She did not know what to say.

"That, you will find out in due time." the voice was closer now but she heard no movement, only a shift of air.

"You're... my zanpakutō. Kuraimaru."

"I am," the voice replied, right behind her this time. That was when she turned around to look.

In front of her was a human. Or something resembling a human at least. He was tall and had a slender built and his eyes was covered by long strands of fringe and his elbow length black hair flowed freely around him. And the eyes... there were a small, black pupil and bright, crimson irises. His stare made it seem like he could see straight into her, read her like an open book. He was bone white and wearing what she would define as standard shinobi wear with a long cape flowing from his shoulders and a wakizashi was in his hand. It was strange... she was a part of him. And he was a part of her. Strange. But deep down, she knew he was telling the truth and she found some comfort in that. Even if she did not know why.

* * *

"Shut up, 'm fine," Shinji wheezed out while clutching his chest.

"And that's why you're on the floor," Rin managed in a sarcastic tone between her heaver-than-usual breaths. Shinji chuckled and closed his eyes for a minute before he got to his feet, slinging his sword to rest on his shoulder as he grinned widely at her while continuing to gingerly rub his chest. Rin could not help but smirk slightly under her face bandages; it was an ego boost for a four-months academy student to be able to spar – even if it was not serious – against a Taichō. Quite amusing, really.

"What didya do?"

"Kicked you. Quite possible broke a small part of your sternum, too," she replied with a hint of amusement in her eyes as Shinji sneered at her and glared.

"I can feel that, Strawberry," he said and rubbed the aching spot again before he used Shunpo to reappear behind her and swung his zanpakutō in the direction of her hip.

"I told you not to call me that," Rin snapped at him and stabbed at his lower ribcage, which Shinji easily blocked but he flew a good distance away when she followed up with a kick to his side with blurring speed.

Rin used her mixed step – which she had named Kūkishin – to get to him and slashed at him but stopped halfway.

"Bakudō? How nice of you, _Blondie,_" she said with sarcasm laced into her words.

"I use my skills. 's that wrong?" Shinji replied in a voice that made it obvious he did not want an answer before he snickered at her "Wow, never took ya for the noble type..."

Instead of responding to his mocking, she quickly did some hand seals since at least the upper half of her body was still able to move.

"What the... Rin, ya know I _really _get curious whenever yer do that," Shinji said as he moved his head in different directions much to Rin's pleasure. Nothing more amusing than a hallucinating, mind-controlled blond. She then send a low-level bakudō after him which he sensed and easily dodged.

"Draw?" Shinji asked as if he was commenting on the weather.

"Whatever makes you sleep at night," Run muttered in reply and released her control over his mind. Shinji blinked a few times before he released her of the binding spell.

"Why didya suddenly grow strong over night? Just learning yer Shikai shouldn't make this much of a difference," he asked as he leaned against a tree and began checking himself for injuries.

"Our last spar was weeks ago," Rin pointed out before jumping onto a tree branch and land in a relaxed crouch. Shinji, not finding any serious damage on his body, jumped up next to her.

"So... whata we gonna do now, eh?" he asked lightly while showing her his wide Cheshire-grin before he got down and glared lightly at the red-head. The place where he had been sitting was now non-existent and Rin was looking into the sky innocently.

"Yer do realize that if anyone saw that, ya'd be stripped o' yer zanpakutō and sent to prison, right?"

"You do realize you would have no success in capturing me, right? That is if I leave a witness. Which I don't," she retorted back in a bored voice. Shinji just chuckled before leaning against the tree trunk.

"Don't sound like yer goin' to die of boredom. Am I really that bad company?"

"Yes."

"I'm hurt," Shinji said in a flat voice with a deadpan expression on his face before turning around "Well, I was going to give ya some good news but since yer goin' to be a bitch about it, I don't see why I oughta bother... "

"Just say it, Shinji," Rin sighed and swung down from the branch to stand next to him. When he did not talk immediately, she raised her sword at him in a non-serious manner while he just chuckled at her antics "Fine, fine, I'll tell ya. Ya know how yer already doin' too good in the academy?"

"Yes," she replied, waiting for his actual point.

"Well," he looked at her, his grin stretching even wider "Ya caught the eye of those Onmitsukidō. You're joining their force."

* * *

A/N: And that is the end of another chapter!

I tried to mix all of your guys wishes for her academy experiences, so it became sort of a quick run-through but with actual experiences... ish. Not sure if it actually worked though.

Does it make sense for an author to struggle with keeping your self-made character in character? … Even just the question itself sound odd. After writing Rin for this story, I've come to realize she has some serious personality issues. Maybe that's why I love writing her even if it's pretty much impossible to decide her responses... why did I make such a narrow-minded character? Gah, I'm frustrating myself when I writer her most of the time... ^_^ Guess I have a love-hate relationship with her. I sound like a schizophrenic person now... Fanfiction, what have you done to me?

**QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: **I am not sure if I actually want a love interest for Rin of if she should just fly solo and show she's a strong, independent woman, who doesn't need a man, yada, yada, yada and all that jazz... What do you think? Any ideas? Suggestions?

Thank you for sticking with me even though I'm a bloody idiot! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	7. Warning

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm back. My computer was sent to reparation for almost two months and my hard drive(?) was wiped clean meaning _everything _was gone. Also, I have to maintain my A average, which is turning out to be harder than expected. FML.

DISCLAIMER: Not mine, yo.

* * *

Rin was supposed to wait for someone to show up and escort her to the division building and it was taking longer than she wanted. She had been sitting on the same branch for a long time with nothing to do besides cutting the leaves into halves with small chakra strings. A dull ache in her head had been bloomed after the first few hours and she had had to close her eyes because of the stinging feeling that always followed when she was out in the sun for relatively long periods of time. Rin looked questioningly at the small pile of neatly cut leaves that were on the ground. She had really developed a bad habit of wasting chakra at the most pointless things. Then again... things were different now.

She no longer had to preserve every last ounce of it because of the fact that she was most likely to be attacked at least a few times a day. Always saving it for another time, never sleeping more than two or three cat-naps every once in a while, always attacking first and never asking questions.

No mercy. No pain. Always alert. That was the life of a missing nin.

Now she was well on her way to become one of those goody-two-shoes Shinigami. She mentally scoffed at the thought of her ever sharing their proper but utterly useless morals. These Shinigami were too narrow-minded, somehow caught n the belief that every soul that had made it to Soul Society were good and that they would not be betrayed.

Useless, gullible idiots. They could keep their morals and their naïve teachings for themselves.

"There's no point in trying to ambush me if you can't keep your reiatsu hidden as well," she called out in a flat voice. She smirked underneath her face bandages when she felt spikes of their nervous reiatsu from a dozen different places around her. She heard the shift in the wind before she saw a group of Shinigami appear in front of her, each one clad in the same black uniform as the next.

"Follow us if you can keep up," one of them told her in an emotionless voice that made Rin want to sneer at his superior attitude. She spent a moment checking his spiritual pressure and concluded he must have been a relatively high ranking officer. He sounded arrogant and somewhat authoritative but the slightly unsure tone in his voice did not escape Rin's sharp ears. He could not have been anything significant in the Onmitsukidō if his confidence had been shaken by how she had easily called them out.

That fool.

Without giving a verbal reply, Rin stood up on the branch and waited for them to take off. It seemed like her silence unnerved them and she caught the quick glances they were sending each other. Then, with no more ado, they took off and Rin followed them. She felt like rolling her eyes when they made a circle formation around her. This could hardly be the way an ordinary recruit was escorted. Then again, she could not exactly be classified as an ordinary recruit, could she? They had quite a valid reason for being cautious of her. Finishing a six-year curriculum in a few months was more than enough reason for anyone to keep an eye on her.

That, however, did not mean she enjoyed it.

After some time of dashing past various vegetation and inconspicuous buildings, they stopped in front of a large but plain looking wooden building. They went inside, turned left, then continued for a long while down a seemingly endless hallway. After a hundred or so steps, the walls turned from wood to metal and the floor turned to a staircase, leading downwards to god knows where. She felt a familiar instinct and feeling run through her body as her almost inhumanly sensitive ears picked up a few screams though they were muffled through the thick steel doors they passed by.

Her initial estimation had been right. This place was for interrogation. The moment she realized this, Rin blocked a specific part of her mind and called forth another, the part that knew what would happen and could handle it. Her eyes turned blank as they walked further into the hall, guessing what would happen next. She had certainly not expected Shinigami, those prim and proper Shinigami, to use such methods on new recruits. It was no different from what she had been used to back in Kirigakure but still, with all their morals and ethics, the Shinigami were contradicting themselves. Then again, this _was _the Onmitsukidō. She did not know anything about them.

They stopped and opened a foot-thick door before they all went in. They gestured for her to sit down on a chair and she did so. The room was small, almost claustrophobic in a way, but it was brightly lit by some large lights attached to the ceiling.  
"Wait here." With that, Rin was left alone with nothing but herself. It was most likely a standard procedure since intimidation usually worked by putting a person under pressure and then their reactions could be analysed and used to classify them as either recruit material or not. It seemed like a Shinigami thing to do, make use of their belief that everyone could be intimidated into submission.

Again, those fools.

She wanted to laugh at the hilarity of the situation; they really had no idea who they were dealing with. Well, she did not plan on showing them either. It had always amused her to play mind games.

The interrogator seemed like he knew what he was doing but by all things holy, he did not do them well. He asked her pretty simple questions before pushing her a bit, searching for something he could use against her and Rin resisted to urge to pick his brain apart spiteful reply by spiteful reply and chose to lie her way through the questions, saving her answers in her brain for later reference. After the first few minutes had passed, however, she grew too bored and a smirk formed beneath her face bandages.

"You..." she began and let her eyes travel over him with subtle distaste "You're not really that highly ranked are you?"

"My rank does not concern you," was his stoic, calm reply but Rin had noticed the twitch of his index finger and the way his eyes darted to the right before his face stiffened. The idiot had taken the bait.

"No need to be rude," she snickered and raised an eyebrow at him "But it must be a tender subject. I noticed the younger officer earlier; he's your superior, correct? That must've hurt your pride."

He looked hardly at her for a few seconds before he straightened in his chair and Rin resisted the urge to laugh. Such a primal male instinct, the attempt of looking larger and more intimidating when confronted.

"It did, didn't it? But you react more strongly than most men with a bruised ego. The black sheep of the family? Perhaps you were overlooked as a child? The youngest brother? No, that's not it... the middle brother? Oh, that was quite a glare. It seems like I've hit a nerve. Yes, I can see you in that. Were you upset when you were young? Always the second, always the less skilled... now that must surely cripple one's confidence. How unhappy you must have been, seeing you can never escape from being... well, less. And that you're still less so many years later, now that must really be... shameful."

Rin did not hold her laughter back when the man stood up and left the room with his jaw clenched and his shoulders set square. Oh, the pride of men. So touchy.

After spending a few minutes in peace and quiet, a black-dressed officer came and gestured for her to follow. Once out, he was joined by a handful of others and they formed a circle around her as they walked. Rin felt like rolling her yes while also feeling some sort of respect for whoever ran the organisation – they did not seem like they took things likely. That was always something.

She was taken through various corridors, memorizing the path by instinct, until the group arrived at some sort of training ground. Rin looked around, noticing each and every detail about the layout but it was nothing but sand and wooden walls. As she had predicted from the scarce slips of information she had collected from here and there, she had not expected the infamous Onmitsukidō to waste money on useless materialistic things.

"You will fight one on one so we can determine your abilities. You are allowed to use any means to attack but no fatal strikes. This is merely a spar," the same male from earlier announced and all of them used Shunpo to reach the side of the room, leaving me standing alone in the middle.

Rin did not move but held her relaxed posture as she waited for someone to make the first move. She closed her eyes and focused on listening to all the sounds around her. Someone shifting their weight, a piece of cloth grazing against the wooden walls, the quiet breathing of the Shinigami. She continued to wait patiently, unmoving like a statue. Then there was a flash of movement and a groan could be heard simultaneously with a loud thud as a body hit the sand beneath.

Rin had heard the whizzing sound of an initiated Shunpo coming from behind her, then a change in the air. Taking a small step to the side, she raised her arm then slammed it down precisely on the neck of her attacker, who landed unconscious. If one had blinked, they would have missed it. A heartbeat later, she spun around and landed a butterfly kick directly onto the solar plexus of the sudden figure that had appeared. The attacker let out a gasp as air left his lungs but before he could restore his balance, he was face down on the ground with just as little ability to move as his comrade next to him on the sand had.

She opened her eyes when she felt new people arrive and true enough, a quintet group was now standing next to the man, who had lead Rin and the others to the training grounds. They were speaking quietly together but deciding not to waste energy, Rin did not spend chakra on enhancing her senses. No, she was far too focused on two of the newly arrived.

Their spiritual pressure, though well-controlled, was far stronger than anyone else in the room. In particularly the – judging by the petite, curvy form - female; the density of it... she reminded Rin of Shinji. Once that thought went through her mind, it dawned on her: A captain and a lieutenant. It had to be.

A wordless conversation was exchanged between the newly arrivals and the officer in charge of the sparring nodded his head to his men, who immediately lined up next to him. Rin stared around, observing the smallest detail with distrust as she could not quite figure out their motives for the sudden change. The female Captain caught Rin's eyes and the two looked at each other, openly assessing and judging, surprisingly looking like mirrors of each other. Both muscular and slender with dark skin, dressed in black, each with their own short, wakizashi zanpakutōs. The difference could be spotted none the less. Rin was almost a head taller and where she had long, crimson tresses and sandy coloured eyes, the other sported a magnetic shade of purple hair with bright, yellow eyes. Still, it was obvious to everyone that they were assessing each other as somewhat of equals.

Time passed and after two full minutes, the purple haired then broke into a curved smile and calmly walked across the sandy ground. Sandy eyes narrowed a fraction but Rin did not move a muscle as the Captain walked around her, looking up and down as if she was an item displayed for sale.

Rin felt like grabbing her zanpakutō and decapitate her.

"The officers you just fought, what do you think their ranks are?" the purple haired asked with some amusement hidden in her eyes.

"I've never gone against an Onmitsukidō Shinigami before so honestly, I have no idea," was Rin's bland reply, still not certain of what would happen next. The other woman surprised her, not by attacking or any of the sort, but by laughing. Genuinely laughing. Rin was now completely baffled and resisted the urge to attack everyone within a hundred feet radius because of her complete lack of knowledge on how to take in the new situation. What was going on?

"Very well then," the woman then stopped her pacing and stood in front of Rin with mischievously sparkling eyes "I'm Shihōin Yoruichi, Sōshireikan of the Onmitsukidō. And you, Rin," the shorter woman let a smirk spread over her face "Are my new personal student."

* * *

It only took Rin a few lessons before she realized she and Yoruichi were as far from equals as she was far from the Shinigami morals. In other words, they were incomparable. Rin had always had confidence in her skill and past battles to back it up but as she followed the older woman around like a shadow, she were soon to see that she was, in fact, far less than she had thought. Yoruichi did not have to use even a good portion of her strength in order to dash by the otherwise incredibly fast red-head and even though Rin's life as a shinobi had relied much on hand-to-hand combat, she was like a novice when confronted by the Shihōin heir.

Still, with Rin being Rin, she traded sleeping and leisure time with keen, uninterrupted observation of the purple haired Shinigami, taking in everything from her combat abilities to her ways of handling with the comically large stacks of paper work that never seized to take up the space of the Onmitsukidō quarters.

Days passed by, each never being the same as the one before. Each day, Yoruichi would test a previous technique before showing Rin a new one, never letting her student relax or slack the least, always demanding nothing short of perfection. Most would have succumbed under the immense burden and pressure but for Rin, there was no way to go besides forward.

And so, even though she noticed but choosing not to dwell on it, Rin was slowly turned less of a student and into more of a shadow-like body-guard. Her skills in almost every aspect had much to both her astonishment and pleasure improved exponentially under Yoruichi's tutelage. Yet, there were some drawbacks from being the personal student of one of Shihōin Yoruichi's status.

First, there was her clan and with the clan came the endless clan meetings and highly strung old geezers whom all served no other purpose than to frustrate Rin to the point where she spent a whole night destroying an innocent forest on the outskirts of Rukongai just so she would not 'accidentally' bash their heads in. Rin had only met with such narrow-minded, old-fashioned devil spawns a handful of times when she was still alive. The difference, however, was that back then she had killed all of them with the exception of one and now, she was forced to stand quietly behind her Sōshireikan without openly showing how she wanted to strangle almost every single idiot inside.

Secondly, Yoruichi was lazy. Not just the average lazy but _really _lazy and since that incompetent lieutenant of hers spent more time counting his money than much else, it was left for Rin and a few other of the Sōshireikan's personal guard members to take care of the never ending stock of paper work. At times, it did made Rin wonder how on earth such a careless Shinigami could have been chosen for such a position but then she remembered herself and her own... not-so Shinigami ideas and accepted Yoruichi's own traits without complaint. Even if she wanted to put the bloody pile of papers on fire every time she looked at it.

And last but not least, there was the other members of the Onmitsukidō. Now, even if they were obvious to the point where she felt something akin to pity rather than annoyance, they were all wary of her. Wary to the point where she had heard herself be discussed as if she was a dark secret of Soul Society itself, a mystery which had no answer yet was known near and far.

Indeed, such a bunch of fools. It might have been her obvious signs of her close bouts with death; it might have been her silence and her face bandages. It might also have been the fact that she had broken all records in the history of Soul Society and graduated in mere months before being selected as the Sōshireikan's personal student which could have intimidated them, but the fact was that she was being treated with almost as much respect as the Sōshireikan herself – out of true respect or fear was irrelevant to Rin as long as the others stayed out of her way. She could not care less about the observing stares and the caution with which she was always treated. They were supposed to be the most cunning, most ruthless of all Shinigami, yet there they were, fearing one of their own but not daring to say anything. The cowardice and insecurity of their own abilities made Rin want to vomit.

Still, she continued with eyes on everyone and everything, absorbing information about both the Onmitsukidō as well as the other divisions like a sponge. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months and around a year after her sudden arrival, she was appointed a member of Yoruichi's personal guard. Rin had merely looked with a somewhat annoyed expression at the purple haired woman and stated that she had been one from the moment she became her personal student. It was Rin's distanced, socially awkward way of saying 'thank you' but over time, Yoruichi had come to know the taller red-head a lot better than probably every other Soul and understood the unspoken words of gratitude. The feline woman had laughed before snatching Rin's hair band, letting her newly appointed guard chase her around half of Seireitei for nothing but the fun of it. At least for Yoruichi's fun since Rin – as always – was torn between leaving her childish master due to exasperation or physically harming her. Just like always.

* * *

In the midst of her getting accustomed to the life in the Onmitsukidō as well as adjusting to the new tasks that always came with a higher rank, a surprisingly long while passed without any sight of a certain blond Taichō. It was by a mere coincidence she ever found him but there was no way she could not recognize that particular reiatsu of his. And so, using Shunpo to drop off the stack of papers she had been carrying into the office in a matter of mere seconds, she dashed out again and quickly breezed through the landscape in the direction of where the reiatsu was coming from. When she arrived, she soundlessly landed in a crouch on a thick branch – old shinobi habits die hard – and took to watching the blond sitting unmoving in a clearing amongst a few scattered trees. She decided not to hide her presence and in a long jump, she landed a few meters away from Shinji with the only sound giving her away being the rustling a few fallen leaves made under her sandal-clad foot. When she realized Shinji was too far into his own little world, so to speak, she leaned back on her hands and took to watching the somewhat clouded sky to pass the time as she had grown out of her habit of wasting chakra for no particular purpose. Constantly being attacked by one's teacher does sort of make you keep a closer check on your energy resources.

"So what brings ya here, Strawberry? I haven't seen yer face around for a while, y'know," Shinji's voice cut through the silence and she lowered her gaze from the fully formations above to a familiar pair of greyish brown eyes in front of her.

"You tell me since you've been asking the Sōshireikan," she replied and tilted her head, raising an eyebrow at him.

Shinji chuckled and grinned in response "I'm worried ya might take over with the speed yer goin'. What's yer current rank; I can barely keep up with 'em any more?"

"Funny," she commented in a tone that made it obvious she was not amused "Believe me, I have no idea either. One minute I'm a personal guard, then I'm a platoon commander of a division, then I'm in charge of the paper and the new recruits... If there's one thing Shihōin Yoruichi lacks, it's the skill of organizing."

Shinji kept silent for a while, looking out over the scenery then sighed "I'm never goin' to understand why she's doin' what she is but it must be a good thing that she trusts ya so much to do all those kind of things, y' know."

Rin made a sound somewhere between agreeing and disagreeing and went back to staring at the clouds above.

"Your lieutenant is still bothering you." It was a statement, not a question. She did not need to look at him to know how he had stiffened almost unnoticeably and see the wall that closed over his eyes. Shinji said nothing in response and minutes passed by with neither of them speaking though the tense atmosphere still lingered.

"You don't either." He sounded somewhat surprised yet sure, as if it was something he had just realized. Rin closed her eyes for a moment before she got to her feet with the silence and grace that was unobtainable for a non-shinobi.

"He's deceiving. His zanpakutō is not a water-type," she said calmly but clearly with her back turned to Shinji "Don't let your guard down. Ever."

With that, she disappeared like she always did, leaving the blond behind.

"I wasn't planning on it," he said into the lonely air as his eyes lingered where she had just left. His expression was stiff and eyes narrowed as he pondered what she had just told him. He had had a sneaking supsision himself but for someone like Rin to confirm them could only mean one thing.

Something about Aizen was so wrong that she had noticed and _warned _him.

All traces of his usual grin was gone from his face and he clenched his hand "I will find out what you are planning... Aizen."

* * *

A/N: Heey~ So, if anyone has any questions about the background story, the plot, Rin or anything in general, feel free to ask me! I love to talk about my story and the things in it as well as speaking with new people. So don't hesitate if anything confuses you :)

**QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: **I have an idea of where to go from here but I'm worried that it might seem like too much filler since I'm desperate for getting to the part with disappearances, the hollowfication and such. What do you think?

And I would like to end on the note that I looked back on a few reviews and a few sprung in my eyes – you people seem to have read my mind to such a degree that it actually scares me :D So I'll just take some time to reply more properly to some of them (even if they're like, a billion months old)

KijoKuroi: "I feel like she wouldn't get along very well with Soi-Fon."

I've just been itching to write these two together. I mean it's going to be such a clash of personalities that I get all giddy thinking of the endless possibilities for angry cat fights! :D You totally saw through my personal idea of Rin and Soi-Fon; they're just about as different as can be for still being so alike. I'm just waiting for the opportunity to let Rin get a go at Soi-Fon because of her borderline obsession with their Commander :) So honestly, you're a genius for figuring that out at, like, a long time ago!

Dispair: "I think it would be kind of funny to see how she gets along with Urahara of Kensei. Though... it'll be amusing? Intresting? if she got together with Shinji."

You have no idea of how much I've been bothered by these three people! Usually, I decide pairings before I start writing but I just couldn't decide. I've actually written out quite a few short scenarios for each of these three in different contexts but I just can't decide – or even decide if Rin is going to be paired with someone or not! Still, I was completely shocked by how you mentioned the three exact people who have been messing up my brain since pre-writing :D

And with that, I thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it even though I'm a fail author :)

Peace.


	8. Uncertainty

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm not sure if I can post again before a few weeks so I thought I'd give you an extra update as an apology for how much of an irregular updater I am. I'll try to update as fast as I can, though. Sorry I'm such a fail.

DISCLAIMER: I really feel stupid whenever I do these but there's still the survival instinct telling me to do it... so yeah, again, I own nothing besides the fictional plot and characters.

* * *

Aizen Sōsuke was seemingly perfect in every aspect.

A perfect Shinigami, a perfect fukutaichō, a perfect gentlemen with a perfect appearance. He was skilled, well-mannered as walked around with an air of friendliness and innocence pure enough for a saint. He charmed his way onto many a person and no one spoke a single ill word about him. It was like his mere presence made one want to confide in him and follow him, regardless of anything.

It was the completely perfection of the man that was his imperfection. For one whose life had depended always expecting the worst and seeing through deception, Rin by principle did not believe such a person could exist.

Which was exactly why Rin suspected he was, in fact, as far from the perfect outside he presented to the world. At first, she had only briefly spotted him walking next to his taichō, Shinji, and had not seen anything that made her suspect him of carrying a dark secret but yet, she had looked a bit longer than she most likely should have. There was something about him that seemed... different. There was something in the way he held himself and the way he positioned himself behind his taichō as they walked that just screamed 'superior' to Rin. Something which could obviously not be the case when it was a well-known fact by everyone that fukutaichōs were on a completely different levels from their superiors. Yet her trained eyes had spotted a different aura emanating from him; one she had not expected when she had heard his name being mentioned. It was the first time she had seen him but the subtle body language he displayed did not suggest he was as humble and innocent as the rumours had it. At the time, however, she thought nothing more of it except it being some sort of general male competition between a taichō and his fukutaichō.

Still, sometimes, a small voice, her old instinct, would lead her thoughts to the suspicious fukutaichō whenever Shinji crossed her mind.

It was due to a mere coincidence she began paying more attention to Aizen. Shinji had briefly mentioned once while she was still an academy student that he had to go "find out what that decievin' little fukutaichō's up to" and when she added all the little bits of information about Aizen together, she had decided to do a little research of her own.

Getting into the Academy records had been ridiculously easy but there was nothing in Aizen's records that gave the impression of anything out of the ordinary nor was there even the slightest spot on his academic records. It was like she had heard from here and there whenever the brunette was mentioned: intellect bordering on genius levels, exceptionally skilled with kidō and outstanding in all other aspects. Nothing useful, nothing surprising and it frustrated her to no end.

When she gained nothing from her initial search it only made Rin even more suspicious. Her instincts had saved her more times than facts had and she was not one to doubt her own abilities at reading people – it had been her only way of survival for so many years she trusted her instincts more than her own mind. Minds could be controlled, after all, but instincts remained the same.

And so, it became her own personal agenda to figure out the mystery behind Aizen Sōsuke.

In between fulfilling the endless duties that came with being Yoruichi's personal student as well as personal bodyguard and training her personal techniques and old shinobi skills, she made many a search through the archives of both the Academy as well as the Fifth Division records. Getting inside the Fifth Division was not much harder than sneaking into the Academy, the only exception being Shinji, who – if she was not careful enough about leaving absolutely no evidence behind her little sneak-ins – would recognize her unique reiatsu. Getting past the division members was no problem at all since all she had to do was avoid them or use a genjutsu if she was too lazy to use her stealth.

She had been attending a meeting between the gundanchōs(1) and Yoruichi where there – as usual – had been a report of the current power of the Gotei 13 divisions, including the profiles on the fukutaichōs and taichōs. As usual, the Shihōin heir had passed on the papers to Rin, who in turn read them and gave a brief summary back to her leader if there was any new information of any importance. The only thing that caught Rin's eye was Aizen's zanpakutō was written as a water-type with an unidentified shikai release. She mentally frowned as she re-read the file. If there was one shinobi skill which had not deteriorated the least, it was her affinities, and with her being from Kiri, her strongest was by far water. Rin had learned that the ability had stayed intact and had taught herself to use it amongst the Shinigami, meaning she could somewhat sense what type of a zanpakutō was if she was close enough to it, much like her first day at the academy where she had had to retreat her sensory field because of the blazing heat which emanated from the Sōtaichō. She had taken the opportunity to confirm her suspicion of Aizen lying about his zanpakutō type when she was delivering scrolls to each of the divisions. It seemed like Yoruichi had somehow gotten the idea of merging the Second Division with parts of the Onmitsukidō and had decided to use Rin for delivering a meeting request instead of the ordinary Hell Butterflies. Rin had only glared before sighing; she was never quite going to understand what went on inside the purple-haired Shinigami's head. Despite the annoyingly trivial task, it paid off when Rin entered the Fifth Division and saw the taichō office was occupied by no other than Aizen and only Aizen. It was the perfect opportunity, almost as if it was fate.

She focused some chakra to enhance her eyesight and lightly spread out her sensory field without it being detectable the moment she had recognized his reiatsu. She was not going to waste an opportunity to analyse the object of her investigation on such close range.

Rin was silent and kept her gaze straight ahead of her as she strode in and placed one of the many scrolls she was carrying on Shinji's desk. She could feel the brunette's attention go to her.

"You might as well give it to me since Hirako-taichō rarely does his paper work any way," Aizen suggested in a friendly tone and sent a calming smile in her direction. Apparently, he did not recognize her because as much as it annoyed her to no end, she had been known throughout the upper ranks because of her status as the personal student of the Flash Goddess herself, added on top of her almost incomprehensibly fast graduation from the Academy – something which seemed to have raised a lot of awe and wariness.

And from what she had learned about Aizen, he seemed like the type to keep a keen eye on talent. Maybe it was the fact that she was wearing the standard uniform of the Riteitai, making her unidentifiable, that he let his guard somewhat down. No matte what it was, Rin still saw through him. He should have been more wary of her if he wanted to keep his façade up.

Being so close to him with enhanced sight made it easier for her to notice the small little details, the basic human instincts and reactions that could never quite be completely controlled no matter how much it was practised. The right side of his lips turned upwards just a fraction too much and he lifted his shoulders while moving his left hand, though barely visible to the human eye, it was still caught by Rin. He was covering up something but felt too comfortable about it. Arrogance in his idea that he was unable to be seen through, faith in his own deception abilities. Rin noticed all of these in the split second they appeared before they were gone.

Indeed he should have been more careful when it was her. Now her suspicions had been confirmed: he _was_ hiding something.

"Captain's eyes only," she stated flatly without missing a beat while her lightning fast mind tried to take in all of the small details of the Shinigami in the room.

"Oh, I understand," Aizen replied in a light tone and she heard him move a bit "And what's your name, if I may ask?"

"We have no names," Rin shut his question down and gave a small bow in his direction, getting ready to leave.

"Hold on just for a moment," his velvety voice interrupted and she had no choice now but to turn around and directly face him; he was a superior after all.

"I have heard about that Academy prodigy, the Sōshireikan's personal student. That would be you, correct?"

"Yes," Rin replied the same as always but on the inside, her mind exploded with different theories and assumptions, numerous of them being thought out and dismissed in matter of the passing second it took her to answer.

He had known who she was from the moment she entered since there had been nothing, absolutely nothing that could give away her identity. But how could he possibly recognize her? The only plausible options were he either had been informed – no, not that. None knew about Rin's orders besides the higher up's in the Onmitsukidō – or he had recognized her reiatsu, the latter being the most likely.

"I have heard many interesting things about you and I must admit, your progress had made me quite curious," he held a small pause and gave her a charming smile "There was actually quite some talk about you between the divisions but it seems like the Onmitsukidō caught you first." He sighed and muttered something under his breath, sounding like "A shame," or something of the sort. Aizen looked at her with a curious expression and made a move to get up from his chair.

Then, without warning, Rin's instincts suddenly screamed at her to get the hell out of there.

_**'**__Rin, escape__**!' **_a voice wailed in her head and her normally dormant chakra reserves were fighting to stay under control.

Without even knowing why, she quickly bowed and used Shunpo to dash out through the open window, appearing again almost a mile away and fell to her knees. The adrenaline was pumping through her and her heart was beating so fast it felt like it was about to escape from her ribcage. She grasped the front of her uniform with a shaky hand and continued taking deep breaths, trying to control the violent react her body had suddenly decided to have. It was like the moment Aizen had moved, every single fibre of her body had been electrocuted, screaming in protests against something undefinable, telling her to get away from a danger source. Kuraimaru had screeched through her mind and the sound was still resonating in her head, making it feel like someone had repeatedly hit her skull with a maul.

Rin sat still, crouched down and let the minutes pass by while trying to get a hold of the wildly running thoughts in her head and calming her body down. When she had finally regained her composure, she took a deep, steadying breath and got up. She needed to reflect on what had just happened and the effect Aizen had had on her. But for that, she needed to complete privacy she could only find with Kuraimaru in her Inner World. She pushed all of her thoughts away for another time and wiped her sweaty palms on the trousers of the uniform. The tingling, battle-ready feeling was gripped her and was still covering her no matter how much she tried to shake it off. Not even when she had encountered the Akatsuki's Zombie Twins had her survival instinct kicked in that much.

Something was _beyond _off with Aizen and now, she was not sure if she could handle it.

* * *

"What is it, my favourite student?" the purple-haired woman asked the one standing in front of her without removing her attention from the table packed with various foods.

"Sensei, I'm your only student," Rin scoffed and watched with a feeling somewhere in between amusement and disgust as Yoruichi devoured bowl after bowl without showing any signs of stopping.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Yoruchi grumbled and took a swig from a large bottle before she picked up a plate of grilled meat "So, like I said, what is it?"

"I want to request being transferred to the Keiratei's Menos Forest patrol."

"Why?" Yoruichi, seemingly not bothered by anything, continued to shove everything and anything down her mouth, only raising her eyes to look at her student.

"I need to train my Shikai against some higher level Hollows," Rin elaborated while glancing at the Shihōin heir, who had now picked up a rice bowl "And I get more experience from leading troops and try out tactics against different Hollow classes."

"All right..." Yoruichi emptied her bowl of rice and then looked at her student with her normally mischievous eyes looking piercing and searching "Now tell me the real reason why you want a transfer. Oh, don't look at me like that, you know I know you better than to believe that stuff,"she added when she saw the small frown that briefly came over Rin's blank face.

"I need a break from Seireitei," Rin replied, choosing to ignore the other comment "I can't test the limits of my Shikai with the restrictions that are here."

Yoruichi looked at the red-haired warrior in front of her for some time, not saying a word but after a while, she leaned back on her hands "You can go," she said simply and placed her feet atop the table between the high stacks of empty service. Rin sat still for a few moments, then narrowed her eyes.

"You had already planned on sending me."

Yoruichi grinned when she detected the blaming tone in her student's voice "So?"

Rin sent a sharp glare at her before she closed her eyes and sighed. That Shihōin was always one step ahead "So what's the mission?"

" I received a report sometime last year that there has been an increase in the personalized Gillians but we lost all contact with the group."

"But aren't personalized Gillians too rare to present an actual problem?" Rin questioned, her mind immediately moving into many different theories on the cause of the sudden increase.

"We sent out another patrol but they disappeared. So now, all we have is an old report and two lost patrols... We need information and a strategy for ending this problem."

"How long?"

Yoruichi looked like she was debating something for a few moments before she answered "The first part of the mission is gathering information... about a year or two should be enough to give valid assessments."

"... and the other part?" Rin inquired, still somewhat stunned at the long-term mission. Usually patrols were exchanged every six months or so.

"We need to know the territory and how fast the progression is, also what's causing it... Minimum five or six years in addition to the information gathering."

"I'll do it," Rin accepted the mission, her voice steady and unwavering. It had only taken her a few seconds to debate the pros and cons through. The Shihōin heir looked at the red-head with a strong gaze as if she could see through everything.  
"Gillians are usually handled by fukutaichōs or Kidō Corps teams. It's not like killing ordinary-"

"Sensei, it's not my first patrol in the Menos Forest, I'll be fine," Rin cut her off. Yoruichi gave her a look because of her rudeness but then nodded before leaning forward, her elbows resting on her knees.

"The patrol sets off in a week or so."

"Thank you, Sensei," Rin bowed her head lightly before she got to her feet.

"Rin-chan," Yoruichi's voice stopped Rin from leaving who in turn looked back at her teacher with a burning glare. She hated in when she used that name "I expect your Shunkō and Shunpo to be perfect when you get back!"

Rin looked at her teacher for a few moments, then chuckled "As long as you're able to keep up then, Sensei-baa-chan."

"'Baa-cha'- Oi, get back here! I'll show you who's old, you-"

Rin grinned widely beneath her face bandages as she easily put miles between her and the Onmitsukidō building.

* * *

Rin had after her encounter with Aizen realized she needed to be much more discreet in her research. She had no idea how much Aizen knew and she had almost zero information on his background, which brought her to the heart of the problem: her lack of knowledge. She did not know just exactly _what _power Aizen had or what he was capable of nor could she find any plausible motive for him to be hiding something which needed Shinigami of high power. It was like she only had half of the puzzle pieces but no idea of how the final picture was supposed to be, making it impossible to see the connections between anything. One thing she had managed to confirm though, none the less: his zanpakutō was most definitely _not _a water-type. But confirming her suspicion only raised even more questions; questions she could not answer.

And also, truthfully, Aizen scared her. He scared her to the point where her instincts began kicking in at the most inconvenient times. Ever since she had fled from their encounter, she felt as if she constantly had to be on guard, constantly aware.

Which was why she had chosen to go for the long-term mission Yoruichi had assigned to her. Right now, what she needed was to train and get some distance from the mystery that was Aizen. And if she had to give almost a decade away in order to become stronger and match some of the puzzle pieces together, then that was what she was going to do. She had no qualms with leaving Seireitei behind and oddly for most, she was looking forward to travelling back to the Menos Forest. Most Shinigami associated it with the high possibility of disappearing, dying a painful death or being isolated from the Soul Society but for Rin, it was perfect. The Menos Forest had a never-ending supply of Hollows to fight and she had yet to use more than a small portion of her Shikai ability since Seireitei was very restrictive in the exercise of Shinigami powers when it was not a matter of battle. Her skills needed to be perfected and she knew the most effective way; the one she had used both as living and dead: fight for survival.

And thus, the mission was the answer to her current predicament.

Rin came out from her inner thoughts when she sensed Shinji leaving his office, going off to who knows where. She sat still, masking her reiatsu completely until he was too far away for her to even sense the slightest of him. To make it as brief as possible, she made a hand sign and disappeared in a puff of smoke, reappearing inside the office where she had been not very long ago. She wasted no time in leaving a small note atop the pile of files on Shinji's desk before she turned and left.

_Blondie,_

_I'm going to the Forest for some time – about a decade, give or take a few._

_Try to refrain from running your division into the ground until I'm back. Also, do your paperwork. The amount annoys me._

_Ask the cat if you're confused._

_PS It's not water_

* * *

Her Inner World was looking much the same as ever and Rin took a breath, revelling in the intimate, comforting feeling of being in her soul. She looked around and, as usual, she spotted a dark figure perched atop the small flat space at the very peak of the jagged mountain that were standing as strong as ever. She did not think twice before she used her own technique, Kūkishin, to reach the top in one move. Kuraimaru did not react to her presence but continued staring out across the desolate plains below them.

"_You want to grow stronger but you hesitate_," he stated after a while in a voice incredibly soothing yet also devoid of any emotion at the same time.

"I want to be able to use our power as well as I can but I don't know if I can control it," she agreed and glanced at him. As much as she was the wielder, he was the power and Rin had learned Kuraimaru knew better than her if she was ready or not.

"_You can control it_," the ghostly white spirit answered with certainty "_You just have yet to prove it to yourself_."

Rin looked at him and he turned his head, his red and black eyes drilling into her own. She knew what he was trying to convey and nodded before gripping her zanpakutō. Rin and Kuraimaru stood in front of each other, seemingly slouched and relaxed to the untrained eye but a split second later, both were gone and the sound of steel clanging against steel could be heard echoing across the dirt plains. Rin dodged a flourish of different attacks before sending an unspoken kidō against Kuraimaru who in return used Kūkishin to flash next to her, aiming at her unguarded shoulder. Rin blocked by kicking her foot against his wrist, effectively disrupting his strike but before she could use the opportunity to counter-attack, Kuraimaru had flashed out of her reach and was balancing on one of the jagged mountain peaks, watching her intently.

Rin did not follow but stood her ground, both of them waiting for the other to make a move.

"_You're more agile after the cat's training_," he commented, referring to Yoruichi. Rin merely cocked her head and kept quiet, still giving him her full attention. Then she smirked.

"Vanish, Kuraimaru," Rin whispered and released her zanpakutō before she darted off onto the other side of the mountain. She could not hold her grin back when she felt the power rush to her. If there was one thing that made her _not _regret joining the Shinigami ranks, it was her zanpakutō.

The moment she had voice her release command, her blade disappeared from her hand, dissolving like the smoke from a cigarette, leaving nothing behind. Rin had no time before she spun around in a mid-air jump and used her own shadow to block Kuraimaru's attack. In return, she grit her teeth and mentally attached herself to Kuraimaru's own shadow while he was still on the ground. She needed to do it quickly before he moved. She heard his movement stop and smirked only to gasp when she felt herself become tied by numerous strings.

She blinked and looked from between herself to her zanpakutō spirit. They were both standing frozen and their shadows were connected by a number of small, thin shadow threads.

"_A stalemate_," Kuraimaru commented before retreading his shadow strings from her and she did the same with her own.

"I still can't control it," Rin exclaimed in a growl as she waved her hand and made a deep dent in the mountain nearby with a shadow out of sheer frustration. Kuraimaru watched her without saying anything, patiently waiting for his master to calm down. Rin turned around and looked at the tall spirit who were passively watching her. She glared at him with angry eyes.

"I'm not going to say it," she stated though it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself rather than him.

"_Very well_," Kuraimaru said before he rushed at her so fast she barely had time to call upon a shadow to block his flourish of sharp, fast attacks.

Rin feinted an attack before she used Kūkishin to dart out of his reach onto the mountain where she could call upon many of the shadows hidden in all the crevices. She split her mind into microscopic pieces, each little piece connecting with a shadow to keep it under her control as she launched a wave of shuriken-like shadow projectiles against the spirit, who was about to catch up with her.

Kuraimaru avoided them with casual ease before he made a swing with his arm and launched a destructive wave against her. It approached with blurring speed but it had not been for naught that she had been trained by the Flash Goddess herself, and Rin quickly moved out of the way before returning the attack with a similar wave.

Her senses tingled and she launched herself high up in the air to avoid being pierced by the spikes that had suddenly grown from the ground. She felt a spark of reiatsu behind her and moved away, only to be encased in a string net she had failed to see.

Kuraimaru materialized in the air in front of her, watching her with his ever blank expression. Rin sent daggers with her eyes "I'm not saying it!"

She swore she heard him sigh before the net disappeared and she instantly went back to protect herself from the never ending attacks. Neither of them showed any signs of surrendering even after the fifth time she had been subdued but when Rin felt her reiatsu and chakra levels reach disastrous low levels, she fell to the ground and stopped resisting. The spirit landed on the ground in front of her.

"You win," she managed out between her heavy breaths.

Kuraimaru did not make the slightest indication that he had heard her but continued his observing. Rin sighed, looked down to the dry ground and then back up.

"Help me," she managed to get out in a harsh voice between her clenched teeth, looking as if just saying the words were swallowing poison.

"_Your pride is going to be then end of you one day_," he commented flatly before extending a hand to help her up.

The duo both sat on the ground, almost equally drained. They were after all, in a sense, the same person.

"It's not the coordination, it's all the different information..." Rin said in a frustrated voice, completely letting her guard down in front of her other half.

"_You used to use genjutsu on many different people at the same time, yes_?" Kuraimaru inquired and gave her a look as if she was missing something obvious. Of course, once he formulated those words, it dawned on Rin. She had to resist the urge to take her now re-sealed zanpakutō and stab herself with it for her own incompetence. She closed her eyes and muttered "Vanish, Kuraimaru" and immediately, her mind was invaded by all different kinds of information at the same time.

Her Shikai was incredibly powerful put it could also very easily become too much to handle. When she had to control the shadows, she had to split up her mind – there was really no other word for it – and fuse with a shadow in order to control it, which was a trying task in itself since it was like coordinating with two dozen extra arms and legs while fighting for your own survival. That was a challenge, yes, but it was nothing Rin was unable to handle since jutsus worked somewhat the same way.

But because she had to fuse pieces of her own mind with the shadows, it also meant that each shadow became a part of her consciousness, sending back impressions and observations on their own accord. It could be describes like standing in a crowd of hundreds of people yelling at the same time and having to be able to listen to each one simultaneously and piece every of the hundreds of informations together to one consciousness, only for it to be changed a second later and then having to take in new information all while keep from going insane. If she perfected her control, her Shikai alone would be very hard to stop but as it was now... it was not that hard. This was confirmed every time Kuraimaru managed to sneak through her defences and disarmed her. She needed to be perfect for this.

"_Are you ready to try again_?" he asked and there was no hesitation from Rin. She ignored her low energy levels and dragged herself to her feet. Nothing was going to stop her from becoming strong.

* * *

Rin was cleaning some Gillian blood of her zanpakutō with a special cloth as she stared out over the dark forest which had become more familiar to her than Seireitei had ever been. Constantly on guard, constantly ready to be attack; it was much more familiar to her than the quiet, somewhat dull life that came with times of peace in Soul Society.

Originally, they had been a fifteen member patrol squad sent out to get information about the lost patrols and the general state of the Menos Forest. Surprisingly enough, time had passed by almost too fast but that was most likely an effect of having your life on the lone several times a day, fighting face to face with death itself. Those kinds of things do tend to make time move faster. And so, in what only felt like a few months, almost two years had passed and the report group returned to the Soul Society dimension, leaving Rin and seven others, making it a total of eight, to keep track of the Gillian progress. Days passed without change in the scenery and time seemed to become more and more of a vague idea that did not exist in the Forest where nothing ever.

It was not easy and now, on their seventh year since they departed, there were only five of them left. One had been lost on the third year in a mass-attack by Gillians and two others were lost when they met their first personalized Gillian. It still made Rin's survival instinct kick in if she just as much as thought about it; she had almost lost her life while protecting another member and she now had yet another prominent scar to prove it.

None the less, she felt like she had come much closer to her goal. Her powers had grown beyond what she had originally thought possible and Kuraimaru had honoured her efforts by teaching her the other of the two commands in Shikai form, Makurayami, which gave her the ability to make her opponents vision turn completely black, blinding them. When she had first arrived at the Forest those years ago, it had taken at least three members to take down a Gillian but the common rule was five or more. Now, however, it was not unusual for her to take one on her own while leaving her members to launch a group attack on another. It was commonly said that Gillians could be equivalent to a fukutaichō level, which meant she was closer to Aizen than before. Much closer, much more controlled and much more powerful than before she left. Even if days were now always so alike and she had to see comrades lost and torn apart by Hollows, she did not for a second regret her decision. The horrors of battle was more normal for her than anything else and she knew there was no possible way she would have evolved so much by merely training in Seireitei. She knew the other patrol members had noticed too, and more than once, they had joked about nominating her for gundanchō when they made it back home, something Rin merely chuckled and shrug off.

A sense of foreboding came over her and when her inner warning bells began ringing, she came out from her thoughts. She whipped her head to the right when she felt some flickering reiatsus approach with Shunpo speed. They were weak, fluttering... Rin's eyes hardened and without missing a beat, she made her way to the camp site for their patrol.

"What happened?" Rin asked sharply as she appeared next to the two injured Shinigami who had just returned. Blood were in fresh patches all over them and one of them, a veteran Onmitsukidō member commonly called Shinkō, was clutching a gaping hole in his side where his ribcage once had been.

"Shinkō!" another of the patrol members yelled and rushed to the aid of his friend "Shit, hang in there, okay? It's going to-" the man trailed off when he saw the injury and he visibly paled. Shinkō made a guttural noise, his eyes rolling back and blood dripped from the side of his mouth.

Rin pulled her bloodied zanpakutō blade out from Shinkō and ignored the horrified expression the man gave her.

"Hanchō(2), what the hell did you-"

"Later!" she snapped at him in a cold, unyielding voice before she turned to the still live one of the returned duo "What happened?"

"Gillians... lots of them," the other one got out between wheezing breaths "Together... led... Adjuchas... they were led... by an Adjuchas."

Rin's body froze and she could hear the two other members of their long-time patrol curse and swear behind her. Not far behind then, the screech and roars of approaching Hollows could be heard.

"Fix his wounds quickly and take him into the cave. They're too close for us to escape," she commanded the group and pulled out Kuraimaru, all her senses on full alert.

Only a year left before they could go home. If they survived that long.

* * *

A/N: I just couldn't help myself since inspiration just attacked my mind no matter what I did – pretty fast update, huh? 10,000 words in like, a week, that's pretty good... kekeke. As usual, it's not proof read because... I'm too lazy. Yeah, I'm that kind of person.

**Like last time, if anyone has any questions about the background story, the plot, Rin or anything in general, feel free to ask me! I love to talk about my story and the things in it as well as speaking with new people. No hesitation, my fellow anime lovers :)**

Dispair : Somehow, I can't reply personally to your comments but I really want to thank your for sharing your thoughts! Believe me or not, they are heaps of help in deciding. It's always difficult for me to view my works objectively since I already know so many things the reader doesn't that it can be hard to find out what to do. So really, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You have an almost psychic ability to put my personal thoughts into words in your reviews – so thank you, really!

To all, who has sticked with me through crazy update routines as well as new readers: thank you for reading! Even if you don't review, it still feels like my work is appreciated. (I hope)

- C

Gundanchō(1): Division Commander in the Onmitsukidō.

Hanchō(2): basically means 'squad leader'. I don't think it's commonly used in the Bleach series though (I wouldn't know... I can't understand Japanese)


	9. Contrast

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I blame school, B.A.P's debut, Block B's comeback, and Tumblr for taking up all my time. Also, I'm a lazy git and a bad writer. That too.

**I'll be answering questions in the bottom author's note.**

DISCLAIMER: Nope, not mine. Me no gusta.

* * *

Rin's first reaction when the Senkaimon gates opened and the group stepped onto steady ground was to hiss loudly and cover her eyes when they were assaulted by the sharp sunlight. It felt like someone has covered her irises with pitch and then set it on fire and for a moment, she almost lost her balance at the sickening, blazing feeling that attacked her.

"Hanchō, what's wrong?" one of the officers, Yamato, asked with alarm in his voice as he watched the normally rock stable female he had come to admire greatly over the past decade almost faceplant in the dirt. He shared a quick look with the equally shocked members of their team and nodded. However, they had barely moved an inch before the red head held up a hand, signalling for them to stop.

"Hold it," Rin commanded in a calm voice that betrayed nothing of the almost agonizing pain she was in. Forcing herself to move, she grabbed the edge of the cape she was wearing and ripped off a piece before tying it around her eyes, much like a blindfold. The other Shinigami were staring confusedly at what their leader was doing with utter confusion. They had always known she was a unique character but she was more the lone-wolf/emotionless prodigy rather than an eccentric and now seemingly mental person.

"Yamato," her lightly hoarse voice rung out clearly, effortlessly making each of them straighten up and focus "Stay in front of me until we arrive at the Headquarters."

"Yes, Hanchō," was the immediate answer and nothing more was said as the group set off with Shunpo, heading for their destination with blurring speed.

Surprisingly, Rin was barely affected by her self-induced loss of sight; it was not the first time she had had to move around without one of her basic senses. Being the companion of Zabuza, the master of the Silent Killing technique, did have some advantages to it, one of them being able to observe and learn from the master himself. She did not need more than her sense of feeling and then an additional sense in order to make a perfect kill after her years as a shinobi. She could be left with only that and either smell, hearing or sight and there would be no trouble for her what so ever – and so, a blindfold did little to nothing to decrease her senses. As long as her sensing still worked, there was nothing to worry about.

After minute of moving, she felt the familiar reiatsu of none other than Shinji himself getting gradually closer along with uncountable others, meaning they were getting closer to the Squad Divisions of Seireitei. Mentally noting he was still alive and seemingly untroubled, she and the officers continued like unseen shadows until they reached their goal. Rin had recognized the feeling of the rocky territory and the distinct energy that indicated they were close and true enough, less than a minute later, they all stopped their advances. Rin mentally sighed when the rest of the group apparently were too caught up in returning after a decade to think of much else and she easily moved around them and began walking in the general direction of the building's entrance. She fought the urge to scoff when the other immediately snapped out of their frozen states and followed after her much like lost ducklings.

If they questioned her ability to find her way with her eyes covered, they let nothing of it show and most likely, they had come to know the red head too well to question her. No one knew how she managed to do a lot of the things she did but if she was questioned, it would usually just result in being ignored or her telling you off in the blunt, knife-sharp way only she could do, and so, they continued in silence as they briskly made their way through the many different corridors.

Finally reaching the entry to the Shihōin heir's office, Rin stopped for a moment and took a breath, steadying herself. She would now return for the first time in years and an unfamiliar feeling came over her as she looked around at the place in where she had spent so much of her time following the purple-haired Shinigami. The feeling was foreign; a sort of uncomfortable, prickly feeling in her stomach, like it had disappeared or something. Rin furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and wrinkled her nose in distaste. Choosing to ignore the strange sensation, she confidently strode forwards and knocked on the two large wooden doors which were blocking their access to the Sōshireikan. A few seconds passed without any response.

Suddenly feeling a whizzing sound in the air behind them and with her battle instincts immediately taking over, Rin spun around while pushing a group member away and unsheathing her zanpakutō. Her blade was met by a somewhat soft surface and even with the blindfold over her eyes, she was well aware of who the attacker was.

"Of course you would do that," Rin commented and put Kuraimaru back in the sheath after Yoruichi had removed her foot from it.

"No need to be so serious, Rin-chan," came the amused reply and Rin was torn between snapping or ignoring the comment but decided on the latter. Yoruichi just knew how to push her buttons and she most certainly did not hesitate in doing so at every given opportunity.

"Was that really necessary, sensei?" Rin questioned the woman in front of her with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"You've been gone for a while, am I not allowed to check your reflexes?" the other asked but was not graced with any reply from the red-head "Fine, fine, just ignore me... now tell me why you're blindfolded?"

"Because I love not being able to see. It's loads of fun," Rin responded with sharp sarcasm, and Yoruichi could be heard stifling a laugh to the response. Rin could hear how much her superior were enjoying playing with her and mentally facepalmed. This useless banter was already annoying her but at the same time, there was something familiar about, a nice feeling... she liked this. It was like nothing had changed at all while she were gone with Yoruichi still being as playful yet serious as ever.

"The report?" Rin inquired and the Shihōin heir made a noise somewhere between a sigh and a laugh.

"Yes, yes... but you're still going to have to explain to me why you're wearing that blindfold, Rin-chan."

Rin resisted the urge to lash out at the laughing woman, just like always.

Once inside, Yoruichi sat down on her large fluffy pillow and all the returned members knelt on the other side of the large table, heads bowed. The report took a long while to finish and after everything had been said, the Sōshireikan dismissed everyone from the room besides her student. The two sat in silence for a while until Yoruichi let out a heavy sigh and Rin felt her eyes on her "What should I make of this? All these things in your report, the missing teams, the personifications..."

"Something doesn't add up," Rin finished the sentence for her and she heard the other make a sound of agreement.

"Exactly," Yoruichi's voice had turned low and serious "I have this feeling like we've missed something, something that links everything together."

"We just haven't figured out what," Rin agreed and grimaced beneath her face bandages when a certain pair of brown eyes made it onto her mind. She had a gut feeling all of these hollow-related incidents somehow were related to that man but she had no evidence; she did not even have a hint or a motive.

"Any suggestions?" the Shihōin heir asked, making Rin push Aizen to the back of her mind, letting her mind double time.

"A permanent station in the Menos Forest but with regular change of some of the troops. Then we can still get information of the progress in the Hollows' development."

"We could send some of the green recruits out there for a few years. Harden them for the work in the other branches... good enough," Yoruichi mused and judging by the tone of her voice, Rin knew the older Shinigami had already begun creating several ideas from this new one.

"On another note..." Rin grew somewhat suspicious when she heard the change of Yoruichi's tone "Now, exactly why did you blindfold yourself?"

"Who says I did it myself?" Rin countered back in an almost innocent voice. Judging by the scoff from directly in front of her, Yoruichi was not amused for once.

"If there's anything wrong with my own student, it's my business to know," the Shihōin heir had turned stern and there was that lecturing tint of her words that came whenever she played the 'I'm your sensei so shut up'-card on Rin.

The red-head openly snickered and mentally rolled her eyes, "Fighting without vision is not a problem, _sensei_. It's not like it has any effect on my fighting skills."

"What about normal skills then, huh? Do you think I didn't notice how your subordinates were placed around you so you wouldn't walk into the nearest wall? Now tell me again it doesn't effect you."

Rin muttered a curse under her breath. Sometimes she forgot just how skilled the feline-like woman was; she had not sensed even the smallest hint of her sensei on the way.

"Take it off," Yoruichi commanded and slowly Rin reached up. There was no use in resisting. If she refused to obey, Yoruichi would use one of her techniques to remove it herself before Rin could block; that was how far the gap still was between them.

"Sensei, although I'm flattered, I-"

"Just do it," Rin was cut off by Yoruichi's tense voice. Rin sighed before she reached up to the knot without showing any visible hesitation. The daylight had felt like acid and she was not sure just how sensitive her eyes had become – it could have been a shock reaction to the sudden source of natural light after almost a decade in shadows and darkness for all she knew.

"How much light is there in here?" the red-head asked as she folded the ripped-off piece of cape in her hands while keeping her eyes closed, her eyelids being coloured red and orange from some sort of distant light source.

"A few candles, the usual," was the flat response she got, the now serious ambiance in stark contrast to the joking one only a few minutes before. Pushing away the slightly wary feeling of being subjected to bright light again, Rin's calm façade did not falter the slightest as she sharply opened her eyes.

She blinked a few times and noticed the room seemed to be far more illuminated than what it ought to have been with a handful of candles spread around the office. Her eyes felt prickly but the pain was pretty much non-existent and most certainly not even the slightest fraction of what she had felt earlier. Yoruichi, however, had stiffened and was staring straight at her pupil with narrowed eyes.

"We're going to Unahana-taichō," the purple-haired of them announced and was on her feet in a split second, ready to leave.

"Why?" Rin questioned with suspicion running through her. She knew the older well enough to know her reaction indicated something was seriously wrong and if she directly commanded her to see the best healer immediately, it had to be far worse than what Rin had originally thought it to be.

"Your eyes..." Yoruichi turned around and gave Rin a look mixed somewhere between apprehension, confusion and alarm "They've changed."

Once they arrived at the Fourth Division barracks, Rin stood still for a moment before she turned around and shunpoed towards the nearest exit, successfully avoiding hitting anything despite the cloth had been tied around her eyes once again. She had already put a good distance between herself and the building when she felt something halt her movement. Quickly regaining her balance, Rin mentally noted how far she had managed to go before the Shihōin heir had caught up with her.

"Wrong move," Yoruichi snapped at her as she latched onto Rin's arm and held her in place.

"I'm not going in there," Rin protested as she pulled her arm free from the older woman's grip. She was about to leave again but before she could make a move, Yoruichi was in front of her with a deathly stare.

"We're going."

"Exactly. We're going _far away._"

"...Are you scared of infirmaries?"

"Yes, as terrified as I am of butterflies," the red-head scoffed and crossed her arms.

"Why are you scared of infirmaries?"

"I'm not."

"Rin, you are going to tell me-"

"Fine, I'll go. Now can you stop drilling?" Rin growled at her superior and began walking back in the direction of Division Barracks, sensing her way by the collection of energy since her eyes were covered once again. No further words were exchanged between the two of them and the tension could practically be cut with a knife. Rin mentally cursed as they entered but showed no outwards signs of being uncomfortable. They were approached by a young female holding a clip-board, who was busy writing things down.

"Name, division and injury, please," she announced in a friendly voice and looked up when she did not get an answer. Rin almost sneered when she saw the girl's doe-like eyes widen when she saw Yoruichi.

"I'm here to see Unohana-taichō," the purple-haired woman calmly stated and they were led by the now very flustered girl to some sort of room close by the entrance. Yoruichi gave a dismissing wave at the girl before knocking on the door.

"Enter," came a muffled voice from the inside and Rin jolted when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked to the side to see Yoruichi giver her a look and again patted her shoulder. Rin relaxed a little and let out a breath she had not realized she was holding.

Unohana was a kind-faced, well-mannered and soft-spoken woman who had an aura of calmness and composure coming from her and it did help Rin to calm down a little. The uncomfortable feeling, however, came back when she had to remove both her blindfold and her face bandages. Rin complied but it left her feeling exposed and unguarded. She had known Yoruichi for roughly fifteen years now but it was the first time she had ever shown her bare face.

"You said you spent how many years in the Menos Forest exactly, Rin-san?" the healer asked while gently moving Rin's head around to look at her eyes from different angles.

"Eight years," she replied, trying to keep herself from breaking the woman's fingers. Old instinct.

"I see," Unohana stepped back and retrieved a set of cards before she moved one of her hand and all of the lights in the room went out, leaving it in darkness "Please read these cards aloud for me."

Rin let a miniature frown flicker across her face before it disappeared and she read the different sized sentences aloud without problem.

"All right. Now I want you to keep your eyes open while I make some light."

A small ball of light appeared above Unohana's hand and Rin blinked a few times but kept her eyes open. She saw the look of surprise and wonder flash over Yoruichi's face while Unohana gave a small nod of her head as if she had confirmed something.

"That would be it," the black haired woman announced and then all light went back on in the room.

* * *

Rin stood still in her sparingly furnished room in the back of the Onmitsukidō quarters, staring blankly at the wall in front of her, her sand-coloured eyes unmoving and seemingly unfocused. The room was pitch black due to the windowless walls and the lack of lighting source and no sound could be heard except the occasional breath from the lone figure.

As it turned out, quite a lot had managed to change in the years Rin had been on her mission. Yoruichi was in the process of merging the Onmitsukidō with the Second Division of the Gotei 13 for reasons incomprehensible to Rin. Most Onmitsukidō Shinigami had little to spare for the ordinary Shinigami and in return, the Onmitsukidō had some bitterness engrained against the Gotei 13 because they were never recognized despite how they were actually the reason the Gotei 13 could exist and work like it did. The Onmitsukidō were always viewed as something different and not quite as honourable. Why the Sōshireikan had decided to attempt merging them together was completely laughable to Rin and she really could not grasp what they would attain by doing it. Some Shinigami not quite one and not quite the other? The Onmitsukidō worked _in secrecy _for the very simple reason that what they did were things meant to be kept in the dark. Why bring it out in the open then? Even if it were only the tip of the iceberg, why even let it be visible?

Another major change, though, was that the Gundanchō of the Shinmongun(1), Fujimoto, had retired after his steadily declining health had rendered him unable to fulfil his duties. It was almost pitiful since he was one of the few Rin had admired. Even if he had always been physically weak, his mind was so sharp it was almost impossible.

While Yoruichi had sent Rin around to study in the various branches of the Onmitsukidō, she had come to know the old Gundanchō quite well and she had nothing but respect for his work methods and ethics. Fujimoto was by no means a sadistic person but had no qualms with throwing away all morale in order to achieve the objective. While he was intelligent, cunning, objective and a rock of calmness, the one thing that Rin respected him the most for was his skill in extracting information. He had such knowledge of the human mind that he did not need to do anything besides asking questions; he was that sharp. In that way, he and Rin were much alike and she admired him greatly for his vast experience. She knew while she was one of the best out of Kirigakure, Fujimoto had been with the Onmitsukidō for more two centuries and his experience made him way out of her league.

Learning he had become a victim of his illness made her borderline sympathize with him. Almost, since it had obviously been a long time coming and there was no way such an intelligent man like Fujimoto had not expected it. His resignation had left the Shinmongun in the hands of the Fukugundanchō, Takeda, who had done a decent job so far. However, Yoruichi had not been satisfied and this was where Rin came into the picture. According to the purple-haired Shinigami, Fujimoto had mentioned he would like for Rin to take over the position as his Fukugundanchō once she returned from her mission. But alas, he had had to step down from his position before she had returned.

However, that wish of his was something Yoruichi had decided to heed and so, Rin had went from being a personal guard to a Gundanchō overnight. Thankfully, the Shinmongun did not have any questions about her abilities since most of them had already worked with her before and though there was some bitterness, Takeda had gone back to his old position as Fukugundanchō without any protests and he and Rin worked together like a well-oiled piece of machinery.

Rin rubbed her temples and groaned. She had to inspect the newly appointed recruits in less than an hour and she was already sure most of them would be kicked out within the first days. Such a pain, recruits. Some of them were straight from the academy, others were from the Gotei 13 Divisions while maybe one or two came from the other Onmitsukidō divisions; usually only the latter were made of hard enough stuff to stay in the Shinmongun.

Inwardly cursing herself of her misfortune, she wiggled a few fingers and pulled her roll of bandages to her by chakra strings. Holding the roll of white fabric, she stared at it with a barely visible on her face and with a sharp exhale, she threw the roll back to where it had rested moments before. A few weeks earlier, Yoruichi had asked why she was always wrapping up half of her face and commanded Rin to show her what was beneath. Rin had glared but complied; it was not out of shame she hid the bottom half of her face but more out of habit and irritation due to all the stares she received. When eyes were on her, no matter if it was with the intention of attacking or not, her shinobi instincts would autonomously take over and she had to resist herself from eliminating all possible threats within a hundred metres radius. And so, she had turned to hiding it from the world. Now, however, she had to adjust to showing her bare face again. Suddenly incredibly angry with herself, she sent out a random burst of Kidō and watched as the bandages were turned to ashes. She turned around, her red ponytail whipping and left her room with quick, soundless steps.

She made her way through the unlit corridors and arrived outside the door of her destination. She opened it and strode into the rectangular room, letting the close by itself behind her with a loud sound. She let her eyes trail over the single line of recruits, all of them looking startled at her arrival. Turning her head, she looked at the two higher ranking officers and the Fukugundanchō, the officers standing straight while Takeda was casually leaning against the wall. Rin gave a nod in their direction and received bows in return. She casually walked over and sat down on the only chair in the room, placing her legs soundlessly on the table in front of it with nonchalant elegance. She looked at Takeda and the two of them shared a look before they turned to stare at the recruits in silence, watching them trying to hold their composure – some undoubtedly more successful than others.

"This is all?" she questioned the blond Fukugundanchō next to her.

"All," he affirmed and let his eyes trail over them with no emotion showing on his face. Rin gave an almost unnoticeable nod of her head and Takeda pushed himself off the wall and then slowly, deliberately strode forwards to stand in front of the recruits before he went to stand in front of the one on the far left.

"I killed someone yesterday. True or false?"

The recruit looked taken aback and his eyes darted from Takeda to Rin several times before he stuttered "False."

Rin held back a smirk and Takeda gave the recruit a blank look before moving on, questioning the next one in the line. Once he finished questioning all of the new recruits, he walked back and took a stance next to the officers, who in response began the next them in the process, walking forwards. They nodded at specific recruits, telling them to take two steps forward and Rin carefully watched their reactions. The officers silently returned to their previous spots and silence hung over the room for a full minute as Rin closed her eyes, revelling in the silence.

"Front row," she held a pause, her eyes still closed and her chained only resting on the hind legs "Failed. You have twenty seconds to leave.

She could practically hear a chorus of jaws dropping and she lazily opened one eyelid at looked at the recruits "Fourteen seconds."

The effect was instant, all of those in front row looked around, frantically bowing and almost literally sprinted out the room. Only four were left out of the eighteen that had entered.

"Now that that's done with, let's get moving." Rin let the chair hit the ground with all four legs, swung her legs down from the table and began walking towards a seemingly ordinary wall without checking if they were following her. Not that there was any need for such since everyone was three steps behind her from the moment she had turned to leave. She placed her hand on a the wall and let some of her reiatsu merge with it before stepping back. Seconds later, lines began forming out of nowhere and a door became visible. There was no handle but instead, a small keyhole had formed at eye level. Placing her index finger an inch before the keyhole, she let out a little reiatsu again and the door unlocked. The group quickly walked through the passages and arrived at a small, square room. Rin turned around and faced the recruits, all of which straightened when she laid her eyes on them.

"I'm Rin, Gundanchō of the Shinmongun. All of you here think you know what the Shinmongun is and what it's purpose is. Let me make something clear: You don't."

She saw both confusion and hurt pride flash across the recruits faces and waited a few moments before continuing, "The human mind is a funny thing. If you're skilled enough, you can alter it into whatever you want, making your target believe whatever you want them to believe. You can make a person believe left is right and up is down," she let her eyes travel over the recruits, none of them daring to move as much as a muscle "I could make each of you spill your darkest, most well-kept secrets, shape your beliefs into whatever I want them to be, manipulate you into doing my bidding without using any other tool than my own mind. Interrogation is not a fun, it's not easy and it's not a way for one to get out with their inner aggressions of not being loved by their parents."

"This is not the Academy. There are no paper tests to make sure you're good enough and there are no second tries. It doesn't matter if you're strong, book smart of able to flatter yourself through the ranks. What we do here has the possibility to change the outcome of life and death for our comrades. You must watch, calculate and learn. You must forever be observing. This is about entering the human mind and extracting the information you need. We're not here because it's just an option; we're here because it's a necessity."

She began slowly walking back and forth between the four recruits and deliberately made her steps soundless.

"In the Shinmongun, you will learn to break the human soul down into its basic components and then use these pieces to get your answers. You can't grasp the true meaning of that, but when it maybe does finally dawn on you, you will most likely not be able to handle it. You will come to realize that you either can do this…or you can't."

She stopped her pacing and stood to face them with her hands clasped behind her back, "We are not here to simply torture each enemy or each witness. We don't do things for no purpose and we don't do mindless violence. We are sacrifices and you will in time figure out why. To be a member of the Shinmongun means giving up yourself and work for nothing but the objective and the objective only. Time is your enemy, pain is you nail, intelligence is your tool and by no means, under no circumstances what so ever, is your subject your friend. Let me make it clear to you that this isn't like the other branches of the Onmitsukidō. This is different. What we do here will forever be unknown; we will never be praised, acknowledged or thanked. What we do does not even exist on paper."

She held a pause and looked each of the recruits directly in the eyes "There are two ways out of here: promotion or death. We will forever work in the dark and we will take this with us to the grave. This is what is means to be an Shinmongun."

She turned her head and nodded at Takeda, who along with the officers lead the recruits to another part of the underground building. Rin took a moment to revel in the silence before she turned to walk away. She had one mission to finish before she could really take over the Shinmongun. It had not been a lie when she'd said only promotion and death were the only ways to leave.

* * *

Her thoughts then trailed over to Aizen and she narrowed her eyes in distaste. She had had more than enough time to figure out her opinion of the brunette. She was never one to distrust her own instincts but there was one major problem: she had nothing besides her own gut feeling as evidence. Well, her and Shinji's to be exact, but since when had such things ever mattered to the Central 46?

Being in the Onmitsukidō, she had co me to know a lot more about the judging organ of Soul Society than most Shinigami would ever learn in their entire existence and they were most certainly not always unquestionable and more than once, she had either arrested or assassinated some fellow the Central 46 had deemed as a threat to the peace. Nothing could overrule them, nothing could question their decisions.

Ridiculous. And to Rin, they represented everything the Gotei 13 stood for pretty accurately. Give her all the time in the world and it would not change the fact that Shinigami would always be arrogant hypocrites to her and she generally disliked being in their presence. Her years as a Hanchō in the Menos Forest and then as Gundanchō of the Shinmongun, where there was no work outside the thick-walled rooms and corridors hidden far away from prying eyes, had given her enough time to consider all things.

Being with the Onmitsukidō meant you had access to a lot of information ordinary Shinigami did not have and being a Gundanchō meant you had pretty much no limits. And hence, Rin had been one of the first to learn about the disappearances from the Rukongai districts.

The whole affair had started out as a series of seemingly random, insignificant disappearances but once the number of missing persons reached past fifty, Yoruichi had secretly sent out patrols. Most returned but one squad of three had never been seen again. This had been brought up between all of the Gundanchōs as well as the Shihōin her herself and everyone was certain this was a part of something much bigger. Urahara Kisuke, one of the Gundanchōs, had suggested it to be some experiment of sorts but he had been turned down since he had always been know to have a few more mad-scientist tendencies than a standard Shinigami.

Now, however, with the total of missing reached past two hundred, she was starting to think Urahara had been closer to the truth than anyone had realized.

She sighed and rubbed her temples before adjusting her face bandages – she might show her face freely inside the confides of the Onmitsukidō building but outside, she was still as covered as ever.

She leaned her head back to rest against the tree before banging it harshly against it. She was desperately close to understanding, so close to seeing the links.

She just needed those final puzzle pieces.

"Well, look what we have here," a voice broke through the silence.

* * *

(1)Shinmongun: Literally means 'Interrogation force'

So, I'm still in the process of deciding whether or not I should put Rin in a pairing or not. It'll be interesting to write, that's for sure... but she's just so frustratingly complicated; even I have little to idea on how it would turn out. I should probably have introduced some more characters in this chapter but I just don't know what to do with them... hence, I just kind of ignored everyone else. Sorry, I'm a really bad writer, I know...

As always, thank you for reading and reviews are much appreciated! If you have any questions about the chapter, characters, plot – everything about the story or myself, don't hesitate to ask! You can either PM me or write your questions in a review :)

**(More important than usual) Question of the chapter:** I've been mulling over this quite a bit... Should Aizen try to make her join his side or should they just subtly fight each other until the canon kicks in? As it is now, I think it could go both ways. Obviously, Rin would not be loyal towards him or any of the sort but it would be a golden opportunity to sabotage from the inside. Or I could just make them fight against each other under the radar. What do you guys think?

And now: Answering questions from the last chapter-time!

So, a few asked about **what happened to the snake, Shinja**.

Here's a small part of chapter 4:

"_She pulled the triple blade out in a fast motion, blood dripping from both the edges of her weapon as well as from the fatal wound, tainting the forest floor with more patches of crimson. Shinja then jumped from his hiding place between the strands of grass and latched himself onto the throat of the creature, but the snake was hit by a waving claw._

_Jumping up on a branch, she stared intently at the thing that had just killed her only link to her former world in fury_."

Hope that clears it up :)


	10. Discovery

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I just can't work out a few kinks in this story and it bothers the hell outta me because each time I update, it's one chapter less for me to write the development. I feel like I'm wasting time... sorry, pals.

– Explanation for Rin's eye condition at the bottom AN of the chapter –

DISCLAIMER: This story has no other purpose than me stealing the characters and general plot of Bleach by Kobu-sensei and use them for my own entertainment. Yeah, I know, I have no life. So what?

* * *

She did not bother opening her eyes "My favourite blond in the whole of Seireitei comes and disturbs me. Lovely," she responded before opening her eyes and staring at the grinning Shinigami standing on the ground below her. He sent her a queer look.

"What's up with ya'n trees?" He gesture in her direction and she bit back a scoff.

"Do you have a problem with trees, Goldilocks?" she raised a dark red eyebrow at him "Scared you'll fall off and get leaves in your hair?"

"Ya little-" Rin caught the shoe that had been sent hurling her way and wrinkled her nose in distaste. Shinji jumped up at the branch she had been sitting on and gave her a dirty look, in response to which Rin casually handed the shoes back. Muttering curses under his breath, the other gave her a harsh glare before snatching the piece of footwear from her and put it back on.

"Sure you don't want to throw both at the same time instead? Then you might actually hit," she offered with no attempt at hiding her amusement and she let out a chuckle when Shinji raised his hand as if to hit her before lowering it and letting out a sharp breath.

"I don't need ta lower m'self to yer level," he turned his head away with mock arrogance laced between his words. That idiot.

"And what level would that be, hm?"

"A pretty low one."

"Compared to what, yours? Are you sure?"

"Didn't I tell ya not to answer a with a que- gah!"

Rin held back a loud burst of laughter when the part of the branch Shinji had been sitting on fell down, taking the blond Taichō with it. She looked down to see Shinji spewing curses before kicking the thick branch a good distance away "And exactly how is you level?"

"Why do ya always go cuttin' off the branches I'm sittin' on, huh? I could've died, yer crazy strawberry!"

Rin narrowed her eyes and resisted the urge to sneer at him "Call me that one more time. I dare you."

There was a few seconds of complete silence before Shinji let his Cheshire grin out, "Straw-" he cut off his own sentence when he saw the murderous look sent in his direction and raised his palms "Jeez, chill. I'll stop."

He crossed his arms and leaned against the trunk of the tree and for a while, neither of them spoke, merely enjoying the comfortable silence which had fallen upon them. Rin let her eyes turn upwards and looked at the starless skies above, the shining lights hidden by the current clouds that had been hanging over the Seireitei and first few districts of Rukongai for the past couple of days. The wind made a particularly strong gust, pulling the leaves of the large trees and Rin closed her eyes, immersing herself in the feel of the cool wind brushing over the uncovered parts of her body. Her long locks danced from the high ponytail like the never-ending movements of a running creek, steadily flowing with a subtle but naturalistic form of gracefulness.

"Did you find the note I left?" she asked and Shinji made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat.

"Y' mean when ya left for eight years without sayin' anythin' about it? Yeah, I got it."

"Shinji..." Rin trailed off, not knowing quite what to say. He sounded disappointed and he had the right to be. They were... what were they, actually? Rin had never given much thought about defining their relationship because, well, for one, she had no idea what they actually were and also, she had never had the need to do so for a very long time since most people she met ended up dead. Her and Shinji, they were more than acquaintances but friends? She pondered for a bit. What was a friend even? She couldn't recall ever having one, it had always been enemies or comrades with her, the only exception being Haku and Zabuza, who along with her had been more of a dysfunctional family united together for survival more than anything else. But her and Shinji... they were more like allied than much else really. Maybe they were friends but how could she know when she had never had to deal with that kind of thing before? No, scratch that, allies did not even cover it. What were they?

"I know ya have trust issues 'n all that, but _really_? I get some strange note 'n you just disappear?" Shinji scoffed and his voice had an edge to it she had not heard before.

"Shinji, it was-"

"Rin, _I don't care what it was,_" he snapped at her and suddenly he was sitting on the same branch as her, staring at her with angry eyes and Rin's hand instinctively formed a hand sign at his sudden movement. Shinji noticed and his expression stiffened. He closed his eyes and exhaled sharply before turning his head away from her.

Rin blinked rapidly and wrinkled her nose as she felt a strange feeling come over her, dragging her down and she wanted to reach out the the blond, the only one who never failed her in all the years she had been in Soul Society, somehow wanting to apologize or just make the uncharacteristically stiff expression go away. The moment Rin had finished the thought, she scowled. As if that was even possible for her to feel those kind of weak things. The moment she opened her mouth to snap at him for sticking his nose into her business, he raised his hand and she shut it.

Shinji lowered his head and sighed, "I thought Aizen'd killed ya."

"... You thought what?"

"I thought that you- well, that... I could sense yer reiatsu in m' office, mixed with Aizen's 'n when I couldn't find ya..." he trailed off and swung one of his legs up, resting his arm on his knee "Ya could've given me a warnin', y'know."

Rin looked at him and stayed quiet. He seemed like he had been genuinely concerned or suspicious at the very least. Knowing that made her feel... appreciated? She mentally shook her head. She needed to focus.

"What's Aizen been up to while I was... away?" she asked, changing the subject in a direction she felt more capable of handling than the somewhat mushy-feely stuff Shinji kept blubbering. She heard Shinji chuckle a bit, knowing her motive behind the sudden change in topic. He then turned to her, his expression serious.

"Somethin's up with him, I know it. He does his duties like he's s'pposed to but I just get the feelin' that I'm missin' something. Like..."

"Puzzle pieces," Rin ended the conversation for him, briefly thinking back at how similar the conversation had gone between her and Yoruichi

"Yeah, puzzle pieces," the blond agreed, nodding his head before making a frustrated grimace "I just can't seem to find anythin'... he acts too damn proper all the time."

"He's a smart man," Rin muttered and Shinji made a grumbling sound of agreement. She turned her had and looked out over the landscape around them, her mind working at insane speed. She kept getting ideas and plans for how to get solid proof of their suspicions but each and every one was discarded since it seemed highly unlikely that Aizen would fall into any traps made by them. From what she had heard and seen, his intelligence was above the average genius.

"We have to wait for him to make a mistake..."

"So we wait?" Shinji gave her a look that was both resigned and questioning at the same time. Rin gave a small nod at him.

"Yeah, we wait."

* * *

Rin was looking through some particularly boring papers when she felt a small flutter of reiatsu approach with high speed in her direction. Sighing in annoyance, she placed the papers down and got up from her chair, walking towards the steel door. She opened it and waited for a few seconds before a Shinigami clad in the standard Keigun outfit appeared in front of her. He immediately dropped down on his right knee and bowed his head.

"What is it?" she asked, tucking a rebellious strand of hair behind her ear.

"Rin-Gundanchō, the Sōshireikan requests all of the Gundanchōs and their Fukugundanchōs to report to her office within the hour."

"Thanks," Rin told the kneeling officer. When he didn't move, she felt like rolling her eyes "_Dismissed, _officer."

"Yes, Gundanchō," came the reply before he disappeared in the direction he had come from. She rolled her shoulders in an attempt to get rid of the stiffness which had crept into the muscles from hours of reading and signing papers before she began strolling down the corridors. The officer had said an hour and since she already knew where Takeda was, she could just take her sweet time. Not that she particularly cared about being on time or not.

There was a momentary lull in the discussion which had been rolling back and forth for the past few hours between the highest ranking in the Onmitsukidō. Rin resisted the urge to massage her temples to get rid of the drilling headache which had crept up on her during the course of the day and the seemingly endless talks did not do much to improve anything, neither did the brightly lit room. Yoruichi had finally revealed the finalized plan for the merging of the Second Division and the Onmitsukidō and so far, the response had not been very good. However, she had – with the aid of Rin, that Urahara guy and a few other supporters, she had convinced the other Gundanchōs of ht necessity of the merging.

And, almost as expected, now that they were about to finalize the document, the smaller fish began speaking up. Tch. As if they had any say in anything; they served nothing more than dragging out the time.

"Are you sure this is the right thing to do? I mean there should-" one of the Fukugundanchōs began but was cut off by Rin halfway through his sentence, who had heard more than enough of his useless chatter over the past few hours to bother hearing him out.

"The Sōshireikan would not carry through with this if it wasn't thought through. Everything has already been discussed so I suggest you close your mouth and keep it that way. Also, you should not doubt the Sōshireikan. Keep your rank in mind, _Fukugundanchō_," the red-head opened her eyes and sent a cold look in the direction of the lower-ranking officer, efficiently quenched his lust for speaking and made him take a short step back to stand more behind in the cover of his Gundanchō.

"Now, now, no need to be so harsh, Shinmongun-gundanchō," the light, forever semi-serious voice of Urahara came from the other side of the table. Rin wrinkled her nose and ignored the blond him.

"Well, now that that's been decided," Yoruichi stood up from where she had been sitting by the head of the table and everyone followed suit "I look forward to see how you all will manage this adjustment. Now go, dismissed."

"Gundanchō, we should get back," Takeda quietly told the red-head who had not moved an inch, still sitting with her head resting on her palm and seemingly had no intention of doing so.

"Actually, I have to borrow your superior for a bit, Takeda-san. You're free to leave," Yoruichi spoke up, directing a brief glance at the Fukugundanchō. Takeda nodded but did not move, instead turning to look at Rin.

"Make sure to get the inventory reports are finished and on my desk when I return," she answered his unasked question and with a nod, he disappeared in a brief flicker of shunpo.

"Now that that's taken care off..." Yoruichi sighed before she placed her legs atop of the table "Kisuke and I have something to ask of you."

"Sensei, even though I congratulate you and all that, I'm not really fond of weddings..." Rin trailed off and she heard some chuckling come from the blond next to her. Yoruichi, however, did not seem amused.

"This isn't the time for joking," her harsh brought on a wave of tension the room and the ambiance turned from light to serious in the blink of an eye. Urahara's smile disappeared from his face and his eyes turned hard and cold, looking every bit like the Gundanchō he was beneath that forever-jesting front of his.

"The number of missing from Rukongai have continued to increase and we can't keep it under wraps any longer," he began, his matching the serious mood "The Gotei 13 needs to get involved if we can't get any further information on all these... incidents."

"So we really do have nothing..." Rin mused aloud and received two sounds of agreement. She turned to look at the two others "How much longer can this go on before the Gotei has to step in?"

"I don't know..." the shorter of the two women present answered, her eyes turning distant "Let's hope it won't be necessary."

"How much do we tell them?"

"For now, nothing." Yoruichi had a ring of finality in her voice and Rin nodded, not pushing the conversation further.

There was a heavy silence laying over them for a few minutes, each of the three caught up in their own thoughts and speculations until Urahara broke the quiet"The patrol you sent out a week ago, have they gathered anything new?"

Yoruichi shook her had with a grimace "Not a thing."

"And that has nothing to do with the fact that that little delinquent Suì-Fēng is in charge," Rin muttered under her breath, her upper lip twitching in distaste, making her scar looked even more pronounced than usual.

"Are we really doing this again?" Yoruichi sounded exasperated and raised her eyebrows at the red-head who only scoffed at the unspoken reprimand.

"I wouldn't have to be bothered by this if only you had chosen a more competent head of your personal guard."

"Rin, that isn't your place to talk."

"Fine then. What kind of candles would you like for your funeral when you die because the head of guard was too busy staring at you to do her job? I might get a good price if I order in advance, you see."

"Oh, would you at least trust my personal opinion?" Yoruichi was beginning to grow annoyed with the repetition of the argument she and her student

"I'd love to but it's hard when you're picking people who aren't ready for their positions. That Suì-Fēng is far too controlled by her emotions to be fitting for the position of head of the guard."

"Kisuke, please tell my loud-mouthed student to shut up before I steal her entire supply of those bandages."

Rin's eyes narrowed dangerously and Urahara looked between the two women, his eyes darting from left to right at high speed before giving a nervous laugh. When he saw the unamused expression directed at him, however, he let out a small sigh and ran his through his hair, "Rin-chan does have a point you know, Yoruichi-san."

"Well, would you look at that. The mad genius agrees with me," Rin commented in a voice laced with feigned shock and innocence, cleverly choosing to overlook .

"Who are _you_ calling mad..." the blond muttered under his breath but was ignored.

"Enough," Yoruichi efficiently ended all joking around and gave both of her subordinates a pissed off glare "This wasn't what we were supposed to talk about."

"Then what was it?"

"You see, Kisuke has been doing well, whatever it is that he does, and now we need a test-"

"You're learning Bankai," Urahara cut in and Rin's expression immediately stiffened.

"You can't be serious," she looked from between two out of the very few people she had come to somewhat trust and was not calmed by their determined faces "You are serious."

"So what we want you to do-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, who said I'm participating in any of the crazy inventor's experiments? Urahara, as much as I support freedom of creativity, I've ground quite fond of being alive. Or well, dead but alive... you know."

"_Rin._"

"Fine..." the red-head hung her head for a few seconds before looking up at the blond Shinigami next to her "What do you want me to do?"

"You see, I've always wondered if there was a way to speed up the learning process of Bankai. You know how only a few Shinigami in each generation can manage to learn it and that these usually "

takes on the highest positions. But it takes a lot of time and time is precious, so... I've found a way to speed it up."

"How much 'speeding up' are we talking about here?" Rin inquired, giving him her full attention. There was no way she was going to get herself killed in one of the infamous creations of Urahara Kisuke simply because she had not been attentive enough. That would be beyond foolish.

"Around a few days, I suspect," he answered airily as if it was of little importance. Rin knew him too well to be fooled by it, though.

"You haven't tested it, have you?"

"Since both Yoruichi-san and I have learned Bankai, we can't use it. And this is where you're needed."

"So I'm going to be the first to test out your – possibly not even working – invention, not knowing whether or not it will take an hour or a year?"

Urahara rubbed his chin thoughtfully and sent her a grin "Well yes, I suppose so."

"And if I know your little experiments correctly, I could possibly die whenever I do this Bankai... training thing."

A nod.

"The two of you..." Rin rubbed her temple as her headache had grown to epic proportions. She rolled her neck from side to side before shrugging "Fine. I'll do it."

"Excellent," Urahara's eyes lit up with that glint he always got when thing went according to his plans and it served no other purpose than making Rin feel like the blond had actually planned this all along. Which he probably had. That deranged inventor.

"So when are we going to do this very safe and simple training procedure? I can hardly wait," Rin asked, her words dripping with sarcasm.

"We begin tomorrow morning so I suggest both of you get your paperwork done for the next few days and make a valid excuse for why you won't be around in your division," Yoruichi commented from the end of the table and received nods in reply from the two others.

"Shouldn't we wait until we've finished this whole merging with the Second Division thing? Since the genius doesn't know how long it will last."

"There's no need to get personal, Rin-cha-" Kisuke stopped himself when the red-head smacked the back of his head with a speed invisible to the naked eye. He rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head and gave her a sad look "How can such a pretty lady be so violent?"

"Kisuke, stop baiting her before I hit you too," the Sōshireikan gave him a harsh look but the amused glint and twitch of her lip gave her away. Rin scoffed.

"We're doing this tomorrow because we're running out of time. So I'll see the both of you at the secret training grounds tomorrow at dawn."

Understanding it was the cue to leave, Rin bowed at her superior before shunpoing back to the Shinmongun where a lovely pile of papers were waiting for her. How absolutely delighting.

* * *

"You will not be able to beat me with your distrust either," Kuraimaru flatly commented as he effortlessly cut through the sword Rin had tried to block his attack with, sending her flying far off into a boulder. She let out a grunt at the impact and felt how blood began running from yet another wound. She rolled to the side and narrowly avoided getting cleaved in two. She had long ago switched from ordinary Shunpo to mixing it with Body Flickering to keep from dying before she had learned her Bankai. There was no way she was going to be killed by her own soul; that would be as anti-climatic as it could possibly be. Refusing to slow down, Rin grabbed another sword from the hundreds that were stuck in the ground around the desert-like plains of the training ground.

"Too slow," a voice sounded next to her and even though she instinctively reached up and blocked the black-haired spirit's swing in time, her blade shattered between her hands and yet another cut was added to the vast and still rapidly growing collection "That was sword number one hundred and sixty-seven, Rin."

"How kind of you to keep count," she growled at him, moving far out of range. She barely had time to finish her hand sign before Kuraimaru has struck at her but all he was met with was a large rock. Rin used the momentary opportunity to swipe at him with yet another sword. She moved towards him with invisible speed and aimed directly towards his heart, killing intent fully activated to strike her target. However, the moment the sword touched his body, it stopped moving and disappeared in a puff of black smoke and Rin wanted to scream in frustration. She jumped away and gathered reiatsu under her feet in a stable stream in order to stay in the air, only to get back on the ground when Kuraimaru was less than a heartbeat from ending her existence. As she continued fighting and her body continued to tire, she divided her consciousness and mentally went through all of her so far failed plans, hoping to get some sort of revelation or even just a hint of what to do. She had been going through the swords in different patters, first in order of shape, then in size, then in lengths, then from left working towards the right but it had done nothing more than fail each time. She grit her teeth as yet another sword came apart after she had landed a strike against Kuraimaru to no purpose. Dodging and deflecting the rapidly incoming attacks from the bone white spirit, she let her eyes scan over the landscape yet again but just like it had for the past two days, nothing seemed to be of any help to her; there was nothing but swords, sand and rocks.

"You will not be able to figure out which sword is the right one by looking at them," he directed at her before he aimed against her side only to be blocked by a well-placed foot from Rin "You always took such pride in being able to fight without your vision. Now stop trying to determine based on the appearance."

Rin let out a frustrated sound as she bent over backwards to make sure her head stayed on her shoulders before jumping away. She landed atop the hilt of a sword, perfectly balanced on the sword guard. Kuraimaru stopped advancing as well and the two kept quiet, staring at each other. Simultaneously, Rin smirked and Kuraimaru's red eyes narrowed and the two were off so fast that the clouds of moving dust were the only evidence they had ever been there.

Rin was moving towards the right, her eyes only focused on one sword and one sword only. She had no idea why but it had suddenly seemed like she just _knew_ it was the one she needed to take. Pushing herself beyond her already demolished limits, she began using even more of her normally dormant chakra stash to increase the distance between her and her chaser. Even though she was dangerously close to use up all of her reserves, Rin let out one strong burst of energy and was projected forward with insane speed. The landscape flew past her faster than she could keep up with but with extreme precision, she reached her right hand out to grab that one sword and the moment she felt her hand close around the hilt, she knew she had been right.

It was the most intense feeling she had ever experienced, both as a shinobi and as a Shinigami. It was like every cell in her body was electrocuted, induced with immense levels of power before being doused in freezing water. It was like her being expanded, was ripped apart then stitched together all in the matter of a split second. Every nerve in her body screamed in protest yet at the same time embraced the feeling as if it was the key to survival. With a piercing shout, she spun around and blocked the incoming strike from Kuraimaru. His expression did not change the slightest but he jumped back and regarded her in silence.

Watching him with determination burning in her eyes, she embraced both the pain and the power and darks threads seemed to appear from all around her, gathering in a large layer around her form. Her eyes closed and the wakizashi disappeared from between her hands to join the shadows.

As quickly as they had come, the shadows disappeared and Rin hung her head, frozen and unmoving while the spirit remained a passive observer to the scene unfolding.

She looked much the same as ever, wearing the same clothes and physically appearing the same but there was a feeling around her, like a volcano on the verge of explosion, the power contained within but just barely.

Rin moved her head up and opened her eyes, their hauntingly red shade now matching Kuraimaru's own and her voice was barely beyond a whisper.

"Bankai."

Then everything was covered in darkness.

* * *

Rin walked through the gates to the newly established Second Division and lazily strolled down the paths and hallways.  
"Hello, Fourth seat."

"Goodafternoon, Rin-senpai."

"Hello, Rin-san."

Rin gave short nods in response to the stream of greeting that were directed at her and kept her urge to tell each of them to can it down. She mentally sighed at the difference in atmosphere around the Division barracks as opposed to the Shinmongun's underground base, certainly preferring the latter. She turned a corner and was about to open the screen to a certain feline-like woman's quarters when an arm was placed in her way.

"No one is to enter."

Rin's fingers twitched and she wrinkled her nose in disgust "And then there's _you. _It must be my lucky day," she said with acidic sarcasm and gave an annoyed look to the owner of the arm, who was standing a few heads lower than Rin.

The shorter of the two's face contorted in an angry grimace "She does not receive visitors at the moment, so please, go back to whatever uncivilized little speck of land you came from, _Rin-san_."

Rin took a deep breath and closed her eyes before exhaling heavily. She then gripped the other's interfering arm with force close enough to break the bone "Move your arm or lose it," the red-head calmly stated in a monotone voice followed by look much like a teacher explaining something to an incredibly dumb student. The arm was lowered and Rin let go, giving a small smirk. That arm was going to have a nice, blue-ish black colour tomorrow.

"Yoruichi-sama has requested not to be disturbed."

Now there was a hole person blocking the entry way and Rin was fighting the urge to induce some permanent damage.  
"Listen here, my dear _Suì-Fēng_-_chan_," Rin bend down to be on eye level with the comically shorter woman "I suggest you move that lovely little body of yours out of the way. That is, unless you have a wish to be a cripple and do paper work for the rest of your depressingly mediocre career. Now, while paper work is not exactly the most common aspiration, I suppose it would make sense for one such as you. Perhaps then you could spent your entire staring longingly at a certain Sōshireikan. It seems like you've already begun on that by now, though."

Suì-Fēng's cheeks reddened and her eyes burned "Don't act so sacred. I'll never understand why Yoruichi-sama would chose someone like you to be her personal student. You've done nothing but taint the name of the Onmitsukidō and Yoruichi-sama."

"Which is exactly why you will remain forever second to me. You are simply lacking the basic ability to comprehend. Comprehend means to understand, by the way."

The shorter took a step forward, her hands fisted by her side "Listen here, you-"

"No, you listen," Rin cut her off with unbending authority ringing clearly "Remember who's the Gundanchō and who's the guard, Suì-Fēng," Rin's zanpakutō, albeit still in it's sheath, was suddenly pressing against Suì-Fēng's jugular and it was more than obvious she would have been dead if Rin had wanted it so. The black-haired Shinigami gulped and tried to suppress the fear which had come over her.

Rin gave her a pathetic look and curled her lip in distaste before speaking "The reason why she requested not to be disturbed was because she and I have a meeting, one that should not be disturbed. However, what you are doing now is exactly that, so looking at it, aren't you working against orders? I would never have expected you to be such a rebel."

"Just shut up and get in," the petite, black-haired woman growled and pulled the screen open. Rin took one step through before turning to look at the other "You should be more careful of what you say. You can easily be replaced if you can't show proper respect and discipline around your superiors."

Sparing Suì-Fēng a final glance much like an insect under one's shoe, Rin closed the screen behind her and entered Yoruichi's new headquarters. As she had expected, Urahara was there as well.

Rin had barely bowed before Yoruichi dropped the bomb.

"One of the patrols found a survivor... we finally have a witness."

* * *

A/N: So here's another chapter, not proofread as usual. Sorry. Someone get me a beta.

Anyways, here comes the **question of the chapter**: I've considered picking up the pace so we make it to the Hollowfication parts in the next chapter. Would that be okay with you? Otherwise, it will be in chapter 12 and if it's the latter, it gives me more space to focus on developing some sort of relationship between Rin and the exiled group before the events set in – also, it'll leave room for some Aizen/Rin interaction, which I know a lot of you are saying you would find entertaining. So would I. I don't know, though. If you guys have an opinion on this or you're just like whatever, IDGAF, then that's cool. You can let me know the same ways as usual if you want. You know what to do~

Random thought of the day: I've been toying with the idea of adding some sexual tension between Aizen and Rin... now, while unlikely, it would be fun ass hell. Teehee.

Questions from the last chapter:

**What's up with Rin's eye?**

I had actually planned on explaining that in the last chapter but I thought I would bore everyone to death with medical talk. Now, however, I think I might just as well give the explanation.

Tapedum Lucidum Development

(First of all, let me say that this is not an actual human disease but one I've sort of invented. It's surprisingly logical, though, so don't think I'm a complete fraud)

For those of you that don't know, the tapedum lucidum is that little layer of tissue in the eye that gives night vision. Humans don't have this but some animals do, which is why they can see so well in the dark and it's why you can see that sort of bright eyeshine in their eyes when they're reflecting the light. I sort of played with the idea of what would happen if a human somehow managed to develop some of this tissue. Now, this has never happened so no one knows, but I just gave some side-effects I believe are plausible, such as how bright light irritates her, gives her headache, she can see very well in the dark and all that jazz.

This was a short explanation and I don't think much more is necessary.

Now, I want to thank each reader, whether you comment or not, I'm happy that you've somehow managed to make it so far through all my strange updating habits and fail English. So yeah, readers are great and reviewers make me dance around crazily in my room.

So, until next time!

- C


	11. Encounter

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm sorry updating so late; I wrote an explanation in the bottom AN. I have no idea why this chapter turned out the way it did. The words just ran off on their own and I didn't want to rain on their parade. Maybe I should have...

DISCLAIMER: No, no, no, no, no~ not mine.

Thought of the day: Holy Shisus, have you guys heard? They've the director and some other people from the Bleach live action movie crew. According to IMDB, it's set for 2014 but since there's basically no info, it could turn up anytime.

* * *

Taking soundless, fast steps, Rin made her way through the long, sparingly lit corridors with Takeda following close by her like a silent shadow.

"What can you tell me about him?" she asked the only other following them, the leader of the patrol which had brought the witness in.

"Fujimura Kenji, civilian. He was too distraught for us to get any further information."

"I see. Dismissed," Rin turned right after a few steps and continued down another corridor. Her mind was systematically piecing together different scenarios and possible outcomes, joining together what she already knew with the different possibilities of what the witness, that Fujimura guy, had seen. She separated her thoughts into different areas, each one focusing on certain calculations at an almost inhuman pace. To those unfamiliar with the technique, the vast streams of thought would most likely have broken down due to the different informations that her separate trails of thought were bringing back to her, everything from plausible to discarded information all being thought through at the same time. If they even managed to separate their mind into different areas at all, that is, something which was highly unlikely for those without shinobi training. It was at times like these Rin sincerely appreciated the relentless pestering to perfect her shinobi skills; they had turned out to be just as valuable if not more in the after life.

She did not bother looking at the door blocking her path, guarded by two masked Shinmongun officers but merely let an insignificant part of her reiatsu reach out ahead of her, making the heavy steel blockade disappear into thin air before re-materializing the moment she had made it past. Fed up with the slow pace, she used Shunpo and reached her destination in a matter of seconds. The guards posted outside the door instantly put their zanpakutōs out to block her path, though retracting them just as quickly when they recognized their superior. They moved to the side and Rin entered. It was a small room, sparingly furnished with nothing more than a table with two chairs placed on each side. Her eyes scanned over the figure occupying one of them as she walked over and sat down in front of him. His expression was shifting between frightened and zoned out, his pupils were dilated and a thin sheen of sweat was covering his face and neck, reflecting the light. She studied him for a second and took in all the small details such as the state of his dirtied, ripped clothing and the constant twitching of his fingers.

"Fujimura Kenji, yes?" she began calmly and observed how the man flinched at the sound of her voice, hearing the small whimper that left his lips. He opened his mouth to answer but no coherent words came out and he opted for nodding vigorously a few times before diverting his eyes to the wall on his right.

"You know why you are here. Can you please explain what you saw at the scene?"

His eyes shook and he clasped his hands tightly together "Y-yes... Yes, I..." he began stuttering and the shaking of his body escalated into tremors.

"Fujimura-san, breathe deeply. You may take as much time as you need telling your story," the red head cut through his mutterings. The man whipped his head in her direction, watching her with wide eyes before nodding again. Rin sat in silence as she watched him struggle in front of her, keeping her impatience hidden. The disappearing souls had occupied a great deal of space in her mind and many hours had been lost on the case. Now the only witness, the only one to ever have survived these, whatever-it-was was right before her and of course, he was incapable of blubbering anything but muttered nonsense and useless stutters.

"Leave us," she commanded, gaining yet another scared look from Fujimura but she pointedly ignored it. Once the other Shinmongun officers had left and closed the heavy iron door behind them, she stood up and walked over to stand behind his chair. The man was now positively terrified and she could not really blame him. However, she was not bothered the slightest. She could have been patient and welcoming, yes, but that would be a waste of time, time they did not have while people continued vanishing. She removed the black glove from her right hand, replacement of the former bandages which had covered it. She took a moment to breathe, steeling herself. The jutsu she was going to perform was not only incredibly hard to control but it was also a stolen mind-reading technique which had taken from some clan in Konohagakure. It could easily go wrong. Swallowing, she cleared her mind from all distracting thoughts and with fast, practised moves she finished a series of complicated hand signs, then placed her hand atop the witness' head, fingers spread out wide.

"Relax and take five deep breaths. This is only to make you relax."

She could feel him tremble but he did as requested and began taking inhaling and exhaling heavily. Rin listened and once he finished the third, she channelled her chakra through her fingers and entered his mind. She blocked out the sound of the pained groans and whimpers that escaped the man as she met the first mental blockade. She easily slipped passed it and ventured deeper into his mind. She saw lots of different memories and thoughts flash before her but with the skill one could only obtain through endless practise, she avoided them skilfully and kept searching. It was a strange experience, being inside another person's head, invading their memories and if one was not careful, it could easily turn both parts insane. Once she located the memory she had been searching for, a chill ran up her spine. This could either be the evidence that could confirm her suspicions or it could serve to do nothing more than make her already groundless suspicions even less believable. She gathered all her attention and entered the memory.

_He adjusted the basket on his arm and continued trekking up the seemingly never-ending hill, huffing and panting; his age was starting to catch up with him it seemed. Turning right after going past a large oak, he stopped and leaned against it, wiping the sweat trickling down his forehead. He coughed a few times before he looked around. Sighing, he removed the basked from his arm and placed it on the ground before sitting down and leaned against the tree. He should probably have listened to his wife when she told him not to work when he was still recovering from an illness but of course, he had to be prideful and stubborn. He closed his eyes and continued to gulp down air into his aching lungs._

_He sneezed and jolted. Once he had opened his eyes, he stared confusedly around his surroundings. Since when had it become this dark? Did he... oh, he must have fallen asleep. Now he was certain to be in trouble with the woman waiting back home. His eyes threatened to close again and he almost surrendered, on the edge of being too tired to fight against the calming, seductive pulls of a long slumber. His lids were almost shut when several yelps of surprise pulled him out of the drowsiness which had fallen over him. He froze, remaining completely still as he heard voices and though they were too far away for him to comprehend the words that were being spoken, he understood the confusion and shock layering the voices. His brows furrowed as he listened intently; the number of times he had encountered beings besides animals in this area could be counted on his two hands._

_A agonized cry pierced through the quiet forest, followed by several others and the man felt his heard pound so loud he instinctively gripped the left side of his chest so it would not escape from its confines of his ribcage. The cries disappeared as quickly as they had come. The eerie silence that followed seemed to ring even louder. No animals could be heard, no rustling around or birds chirping. Only silence. Remaining silent and still, the man dared not even bat an eyelash and adrenaline continued pumping furiously through his body._

"_It seems like another fail, Taichō."_

_The man felt as if a cold iron-hand gripped his heart, squeezing it onto a halt when a voice broke the silence. But if the first voice had made his heart clench, the voice that followed froze it and broke it._

"_They're expandable. We will just have to test it again."_

_The male voice was rich, smooth but the words completely contrasted to the way it was spoken. There was something about the way the words were said, the apathy in them, the boredom as if one was faced with a failure they had expected. He did not know who the voice belonged to but he instinctively made the connection between the screams and the cold voice. It sounded as if they were merely discussing the weather._

Rin withdrew from the memory and blinked several times as the forest scenery was replaced by the dimly lit metal walls of the interrogation room. Fujimura slumped in his chair, head lolling to the side as if he was nothing but a sack of grain but she paid little to no attention to her passed out subject. Her eyed were glazed over and a thin sheen of sweat covered her forehead, making some red strands of hair stick to the damp skin. Lowering her hand, she took a step back. Nothing could be heard except the heavy breathing of the unconscious Fujimura. Her brows kept furrowing then evening out before her face went blank. Turning on her heel, she exited the room, giving orders to the guards outside to take care of the witness while taking fast strides away, going in the direction of her office. It did not take more than a few seconds before Takeda was walking behind her, having caught of with her.

"Gundanchō, was-" he began but stopped his sentence when Rin raised a hand, signalling him into silence. Nothing else was said as the duo quietly walked down the hallways of the Shinmongun until they reached their destination. Rin walked over to her desk and slowly settled herself down on the chair, placing her chin atop her folded hands with a far-away look on her face. Takeda kept quiet, patiently holding his position in front of her. She could feel his questioning gaze on her but ignored it, far more intent on getting her spinning mind under control.

The witness... this was the evidence. This was what confirmed her suspicions, her intuition, her gut feeling. There was no doubt. It had been Aizen Sōsuke's voice. There could be absolutely no denying it, she knew that much. But she did not recognize the person who had been speaking first. It sounded young but as far as she knew, Aizen had no family or personal students. Then again, he would most likely have no problem with hiding either of those from anyone. But the evidence showed nothing more than Aizen had been close to a scene where some people had cried out. If only that fool of a man had actually had the guts to look instead of cowering behind the tree like a scared rabbit hiding from a fox. Then again there would probably not be a witness if he had exposed himself. Why he had not been discovered, she had no clue. But the talk of experiments, experiments which had failed but needed to continue – definitely not a coincidence, not with all the disappearances for the past years. There was a connection. There was a connection between the disappearances, Aizen and an unnamed experiment with the victims. Something agonizing but brief if the memory was anything to go by. Yet it seemed like there was more to it. A man like Aizen, a man of such intelligence would not sacrifice anything unless it was somehow vital to him. And the fact that it was necessary to use human sacrifices and had to be kept a secret...

"Takeda."

"Yes, Gundanchō?

"Send Hell Butterflies to the Sōshireikan and Urahara-Gundanchō for me. Tell them I need to speak with them as soon as possible."

Nodding once, the blond Fukugundanchō summoned two of the messenger insects and sent them off before turning back, continuing to watch the red head. Silence hung over the office for quite a while until both butterflies simultaneously returned.  
"Urahara-Gundanchō and the Sōshireikan are on their way to a test," Takeda conveyed the message to his superior "They won't have time for a meeting until tomorrow."

The blond man furrowed his brows as the butterflies disappeared and turned to Rin "What test are they doing?"

"I suppose you'll find out soon enough," Rin rested her head in one hand "Urahara-Gundanchō is taking the taishu(1) since the position in the 12th Division is open. I have no idea why, though."

"Then who will be responsible for his unit?" he questioned, obviously baffled by the news. Rin sighed.

"The cleaning lady, Takeda," she bit sarcastically, giving him a look "Think before you ask."

"Yes, Gundanchō."

The corner of her lip tugged up a bit at her embarrassed second-in-command but it quickly stiffened and disappeared when she once again thought about what she had just witnessed in Fujimura's memory.

This seemed far more complicated than she felt prepared to deal with.

* * *

"Hirako Shinji, I am going to murder you in your sleep," Rin hissed at the blond walking next to her. That infuriating, insolent, incompetent blond.

"And that's the same thing ya said when I signed ya up for th'academy back then. And I ain't dead yet, love."

Rin replied by sticking a foot in his path and discreetly shoving her companion with a little more force then necessary, resulting in him making quite a spectacle of faceplanting directly onto the wooden floor while pulling the nearest person down with him in a strange attempt to stay on his feat. The final product was a heap of tangled limbs, a spilled drink and a Rin grinning widely beneath her face bandages. She turned around to leave when she stopped in her tracks.

"Oh, sorry 'bout that, Rose. Guess I lost ma footing for a second."

"No, no, it's no trouble. I didn't expect to see you here, Shinji-san."

Rin stared in disbelief as the two blonds raised themselves from the floor and people went back to their own business. She felt like hitting her forehead with the nearest bottle. _Of course _that blond idiot had to be buddy-buddy with whomever he tackled. And she had planned on leaving him in a fight with some random brute as payback for dragging her along with him to some bar.

"Are you by yourself? That's unusual for you..." the wavy haired one, Rose asked.

"Nah, I brought a brooding red head with me," Shinji took a step to stand beside her, clasing his arm around her shoulders "That one here who looks like she's about to set this place on fire."

Rin scoffed and stomped on his foot. She felt a little satisfaction and the restrained sound of pain the person next to her let out and he quickly got the hint, removing his arm from around her.

"Why don't you and...?" Rose trailed off, looking politely inquiring at Rin, much like a gentleman. She stared back blankly. An awkward silence followed as the red head continued staring at him with no change in expression whatsoever while Shinji was trying to keep from laughing next to her at the confused look that decorated Rose's face. Somewhere along the way it had turned into a staring match between the two, going on for a full minute until the tall blond gave a small smile and lightly bowed.

"Where are my manners? The name is Ōtoribashi Rōjūrō, Taichō of the third. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Rin hid her surprise at his position but her respect for the eccentric looking man immediately grew. She care little to nothing for ordinary Shinigami but there was no denying the capabilities of a Taichō.

"Rin, Onmitsukidō. Likewise, Ōtoribashi-san," she gave a nod in return. He offered her his arm and though she would normally have broken in half – or thirds if she was feeling particularly annoyed – she gracefully took it with an incline of her head before walking off with him to a nearby table. While walking away, Rose leaned down a bit to bridge the small height difference between the two and whispered "Someone should take an expression of his expression right now."

Rin held back a chuckle and looked over her shoulder to see Shinji look at them much like they were a pair of llamas who had just given him a lecture in ethics or something equally unimaginable. She briefly wondered whether or not she would have to manually reattach his jaw to the rest of his facial structure and put his eyes back into their sockets. After a few minutes of looking like an utter moron, Shinji gathered himself and went over to their table, plopping down next to Rin with a loud thud.  
"What was that?" he asked with a look as if he was still questioning the reality of what he had just seen.

"Unlike you, Goldilocks, some people have manners," she replied, giving a nod in the direction of Rose, who raised his wine glass in acceptance of the compliment.

"Tch, manners m'ass. Ya wouldn't know manners if it hit ya in the face," Shinji gave a snarky comment then winced when a small jolt of static hit his leg. He turned glaringly towards Rin who was tapping her fingers in a innocent manner against the table surface. His eyes narrowed and let out a muttered curse.

"Don't look so upset; it's not good for your health," Rin told him "Since we don't want you to leave us early."

Another glare "Your sarcasm is not appreciated."

"Oh, was I being sarcastic? I didn't notice."

"Rin."

"Shinji."

"_Strawberry_."

"_Goldilocks_."

Their banter was interrupted by Rose letting out a light, musical laughter and they simultaneously turned towards him, mirroring each other's annoyed and confused faces.

"You're like a pair squabbling siblings. It's incredibly entertaining," the tall blond was looking at them with amusement evident in his expression, seemingly enjoying himself wonderfully.

Shinji looked like he was about to tell his friend where he ought to stuff his amusement when a large figure sat down at their table. He was large, muscular and had grey, short-cut hair and he seemed thoroughly irritated over something.

"Evenin', Kensei-san." Shinji greeted him "Runnin' from Mashiro-chan again?"

The one named Kensei let out a groan and took a large swig of his sake bottle. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before answering "The brat's been going on and on about some damned stuff all day; I swear my head is about to explode. It's all just stupid shit that just keeps coming and she just can't shut up..." he trailed off with a huff before taking another large gulp from his bottle. His eyes then turned to Rin, who were staring at him, eyes unreadable, "Who the hell are you?"

Rin tilted her head to the side, peering curiously at him. She should probably be offended but she liked his attitude. She decided to see if she could push his buttons a bit.

"It's common etiquette to state your own name before asking anyone else's."

"The hell, enough with that stu-" Shinji's words were exchanged with a choked sound, followed by a minor gasp as Rin pulled out the umbrella decoration she had nicked earlier from where she had stabbed it into his thigh.

"Did you just stab him?" the Kensei guy looked surprised, his eyes going between Shinji, Rin and the umbrella decoration which was now laying innocently atop the table. Rin merely shrugged in response which earned her a snicker from Kensei.

"Good. About time someone did," he tilted his chin upwards in a form of greeting "Muguruma Kensei, Ninth Division Taichō."

Was all the people Shinji knew officers-in-charge? Controlling her surprise, she gave a nod in return, "The name's Rin."

Kensei looked at her for a few seconds, as if he was waiting for something more before he turned his eyes away with a crooked smile and took another swig from his bottle.

For a while, the group made idle chat though Rin did not join in unless she was asked directly. However, she found their company to be a sort of welcome change of scenery even if she could not exactly say she felt comfortable with the new people. As if she was not surrounded by enough high-ranking Shinigami already, their table was soon joined by another group of people. There were two of the old Taichōs, Ukitake from the Thirteenth and Kyōraku from the Eight, Kyōraku's Fukutaichō Yadōmaru and a short, pig-tailed shrimp called Sarugaki Hyori. Despite the rising level of Rin's need to get the hell away from the feeling of being surrounded by unfamiliar people, she had found a kinswoman in the Sarugaki brat since they both had the joy of tormenting Shinji in common. After a while, Kensei threw himself under the table in order to hide from a green-haired, wide-eyed girl who – much to the surprise of Rin – turned out to be Kuna Mashiro, his Fukutaichō. Rin did not know of the green-haired girl beforehand and after a total of four minutes, she wished it would have stayed that way. She honestly had to resist the urge to shove her hand down her throat or just sew her mouth together because really, the girl needed to stop asking about why she was wearing face bandages every thirty seconds.

Rin stood up, bowing to the others and quickly made her way towards the exit. Once out, she took a moment to breathe in the crisp, unpolluted night air. She was about to Shunpo away when a voice made her whole body go into a full stop.

"I never thought you to be the... bar type, Rin-san."

Rin was by no means taken aback by his use of her name. She turned around and gave a small nod to the brunette, deliberately ignoring the small jab, "Good evening, Aizen-fukutaichō."

He walked up to stand in front of her, giving her a small smile that could have fooled anyone. But not her. Never her.

"Now, since I was about to-"

"How has work been for you?" he cut off her attempt at politely escaping and though his eyes were crinkled into half-moons, the seriousness in them could not be hidden from one as well-trained in the arts of reading people as Rin. The visible parts of her face remained unchanged at his question but beneath the bandages, her lips formed into a thin line.

"Such a high-ranking officer as yourself would know I'm unable to speak about this with anyone outside of the organization."

He made a somewhat sad expression but followed it up with a pleasant chuckle, "Ah, yes, I understand. " His expression evened out yet a small quirk of his lip remained, the hint of an arrogant smirk "So there has been nothing new to take your attention lately? No interesting new events?"

As if on cue, a wind swept past them, pulling their robes and hair but both had their eyes locked with each other, brown holding sand without any of them giving an inch to the other.

"What events are you referring to, Fukutaichō? I hope nothing has escaped my attention. Perhaps you could fill me in if you have any knowledge we could use?"

The air between the two was slowly but steadily filling with tension as if it were two rivals trying to out-talk the other before a battle. Neither of them wanted to outright say anything, they were both far too caught up in their want of remaining out of the open. But it was there, unspoken. The challenge, the implicit statement of "I know you know" and "Do you dare make the first move?".He was making it obvious he was aware of the witness in her custody. He was making it clear she could not keep anything out of his sight.

"I will certainly let you know first if I had anything beneficial for you, Rin-san. I'll be sure to let you know where you would find the most advantages for yourself."

Rin narrowed her eyes. She understood the meaning of her words, the weight in them. He was silently offering her an opportunity.

"I will keep that in mind," Rin replied without missing a beat but inwardly her minds were reeling "I have a few things to take care of so..."

"Yes, yes, I understand. Good evening to you," For a brief moment, Rin saw a glint of something raw in his eyes. Something cold and sinister yet amused "I hope you won't run into anything unpleasant on your way back."

Rin gave a nod before using Shunpo to escape the scene and she did not stop until she was in her room in most secluded place the Onmitsukidō barracks. Sitting down on her futon, she gulped down air in a desperate attempt at regaining it back. Her heart was thundering away and her palms were sweaty. That brief moment Aizen let some of his façade crumble was flashing through her mind. After his attempts at goading her into speaking about her work, it was now clear to her he knew about the witness. But why would he allow it if he knew about it? She did not know his full capabilities and even though the Shinmongun was as close to being impenetrable as any building in Soul Society, there was just something about Aizen which made her feel like he would be able to do it without batting an eyelash if he wished to do so.

Rin sighed heavily and rubbed her irritated eyes. It seemed as if everything was becoming increasingly dangerous by the second. Even with her thoughts scattered and her heart still beating furiously after the brief encounter with Aizen, she let a smile graze her lips. It almost seemed as if she was back in Kiri.

When Rin rose the following morning, she could not shake off the feeling that something was amiss. It was most likely because Urahara had passed that taishu yesterday. That would lead to certain doom for them all. Doom and endless streams of illegal machinery. After spending a few hours meditating and training with Kuraimaru, who sensed her agitation but told her to ignore it, she entered her office at the Shinmongun, prepared to get through the pile of papers that were contaminating her desk with their mere presence. She had only finished the first handful when she put the pen down. There was a number of irregularities in the energies around the prisoners' section. Reiatsu was pouring anxiously, nervously from there as if something had happened. Rin had just risen to her feet, intent of finding out the source of the disturbance when Takeda appeared in front of her. Her vain hope of it being something small disappeared when she saw the controlled but evident distress in his expression.

"The witness... is- the witness, Gundanchō... the witness is dead."

* * *

(1) Taishu: Captain proficiency test

Random note: My personal favourite chapter so far. I have no idea why but even if it was tiring, frustrating and slow to write, I loved every second of the process. It's probably full of typos, though. Whopdee fucking doo for un-betaed stuff.

**Question of the chapter: **Have I explained Rin enough for you? History-wise, ability-wise, zanpakutō-wise? I obviously know her in and out – I created her after all – but are you satisfied with the information so far? I promise, more flashbacks will come (because I love those. And I'm the author. If I want flashbacks, then damn, I'll have my flashbacks) but are you feeling like there's been anything vital left out? I would be more than happy to include it in the coming chapters, then… which actually brings me to another question:

I had the idea of writing a prequel to this. Just a oneshot or perhaps a two-shot (definitely nothing more) about Rin's time before her death. Do you approve of this or should I just put in flashbacks here and there in this story instead? I can do either; it's more a question of what you prefer. Or if you just want me to stop writing about past crap, you can just say that. Hehe.

**Question replies from last chapter:**

The Rin/Aizen thingy: The general response was kinda 'bleh'. Seems like you guys agree with me on that one. I wasn't much in favour of it originally, if I have to be honest, but since it seems like most stories have some sort of romantic dimension, I just wanted to see if you were feeling it. It seems like none of us were gonna board that ship though. Good thing we won't be having that then.

Rin's physical appearance: I don't have a fanart to show you but I haven't really been focusing a whole lot on how she looks since it's that important for the story. But I'll just copy and paste the part about her appearance I wrote on her character profile (yes, I make those. It's easier to keep track of anyone that way, methinks):

Age: 19(at death), 150(aprox. at cameo beginning) December 9th

Height: 5'7" (174cm)

Appearance: (facial structure similar to Danneel Harris... if I had to use a celebrity, for the sake of being simple)Tanned skin. Wavy, dark red hair to the lower the back, beige/sand colored eyes. Slender with broad shoulders(swordfighter) Face bandages and headband Zabuza style. Part of her spine is made of metal (see history).

Tattoos:

- ANBU tattoo on right shoulder

- '0215' (graduation day) on inside left wrist

- snake around a sword on her left shoulder

- black and blue hawk with its wings spread on the left ankle

- kanji for 'Fumetsu' on back of right hand

NB: Generally covers up with clothing everywhere. Cut off sleeves, long armed shirt underneath, gloves.

**My excuses for not updating** (besides being lazy and a slow writer, of course):

Besides the fact that it's nearing exams time, my younger sister had an accident and had to have surgery. Adding to that, I've just finished writing the biggest assignment I've ever had to do and I've been looking at universities as well as applying for a job so writing has honestly been pushed to the back of my mind. I've missed it though and I'm glad I'm back. I'll try to balance life and writing better from now on. Again, I sincerely apologize. Please do virtually maim me for my incompetence. I think deserve it.

Anyhow, I wrote +2500 words today so I'm beat. And I haven't done any homework. Fanfiction, forever ruining my average. Oh well. I regret nothing.

Peace out.

- C


	12. Harbinger

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter was a bitch. I think I had at least ten sittings in which I could only write, like, seventy words before my brain just collapsed. Then suddenly I had an epiphany and spat out +4000 words in a day. I hope it was worth the wait.

DISCLAIMER: The only thing I could possibly own from Naruto and Bleach are the anime, manga and merchandise and since I'm poor... I don't. Sob.

Thought of the day: I'm dying to taste Ben & Jerry's. I've never tried it. There's a grocery store ten minutes walk from my house. To indulge or not to indulge... Oh, and I marathoned Legend of Korra this weekend. It was awesome.

* * *

Rin was silent, staring blankly at Takeda as the seconds crept by. The distraught man glanced around then back to his superior but she was as frozen. Suddenly she blinked and then without any notice, she took off by Shunpo in the direction of Fujimura's cell. Her mind was nothing short of coagulated by thoughts.

How could this have happened? Who could have done this? The Shinmongun was ever more well guarded than the Maggot's Nest and the Sōshireikan and there was most certainly no way in for an outsider. She had redone the security system when she took over and she was beyond confident in it and her selected 'gatekeepers' – five officers, herself and Takeda included, whose raiatsu would be able to open the doors in the prisoner section and the interrogation sections. Only five; the other two handfuls of officers were divided between the five according to their shifts. There was no way in or out unless one of her officers had suddenly lost it wipe Fujimura from the face of the planet. Although it was not exactly common, even in her decade or so in the Shinmongun she had had to sent a number to the Maggot's Nest or, as in some cases, had to take them down because of the job's effect on their minds. But Rin was somehow certain this was not the case of an officer snapping. She was by now far to fine-tuned at seeing the signs the instant they began appearing, as minuscule as they might have been. What was the motive behind such Fujimura's death? It could be no mere incident, he held far too valuable information for that. She had an idea of what could have happened. But that was impossible. There was simply no way in.

Exhaling sharply in frustration, she landed in a full-stop a small way away from Fujimura's cell and took in the scene. Half a dozen of Shinmongun officers were standing outside of it and even if it was mostly hidden by their impassive masks, she could easily sense the anxiety from them. She took a slow breath and released it before deliberately making her step with sound and walked over to the cluster. They all turned and she could see their questioning gazes turn to focus on her. They bowed their heads and moved to stand in lines.

"You," she turned to the line left of her "Search all of Seireitei for signs. A scratch, blood, a ruffled leaf even a speck of dust in the wrong place, I want to know every detail. The rest of you will take will take a sample of blood and go get help from the Kidō Corps to search beyond Seireitei. Don't tell them anything besides we want a deserter found, no matter the reason. Send a report back if you find even the smallest hint of a clue. _I want him found_. Takeda, you stay here."

The order was answered with simultaneous nods and a second later, she and Takeda, were the only ones left.

"Orders, Gundanchō?"

She gave him a thoughtful look before turning back to stare at the cell. Her eyes were hard, unblinking and steady as they gazed at the scene in front of her,"This can not get out of the Shinmongun. Under no circumstances. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Gundanchō."

A heavy exhale, "All right, then. Takeda," she looked directly at him with her her piercing eyes "I need you to inform Urahara Kisuke and the Sōshireikan of this. Do it directly and discreetly. Also, request both of them to see me as soon as possible in the Sōshireikan's quarters."

"The Second Division or the Onmitsukidō base?"

"The base."

Rin narrowed her eyes the tiniest bit when Takeda continued to stand still with an unsure expression on his face. She stared at him.

"Takeda."

"Yes?" he blinked and snapped his head back in her direction.

"What is it?"

"That... I thought this was not something to let out of the division, Gundanchō?"

"And it's not going to. But the Sōshireikan must be informed and Urahara might be the best help we can get."

Takeda appeared to be wanting to question her but closed his mouth and bowed his head when she gave him a look, "Yes, Gundanchō."

Alone in the corridor, she let out a sigh before she walked into the cell. She frowned lightly and her mouth turned into a thin line.

The table and chairs were in the same position as when she had left. Everything looked like a replica of the day before besides the small gathering of blood next to the chair, barely the size of the heel of her palm. She only took a few moments to look around before using a teleportation jutsu to return to her office. Grimacing, she sat down in her chair and placed her legs on top of the desk with more force than necessary, her old shinobi sandals making a loud noise when they were slammed down on the hard surface. Her frown deepened and her jaw was tight.

It seemed increasingly likely that there could only be one person behind this.

The finesse and delicacy in the infiltration, alerting no one. The silence and the lack of any lingering chakra. But then there was blood. Taking everything else into account, this was nothing but deliberate evidence left behind. Normally, Rin would assume it was a mere ploy to throw the enemy off but that approach did not seem all that likely in this case.

Not when her suspect was Aizen.

From his approaches of her, his manner of speaking and conducting himself had always been like this. Fully controlled, discreet yet always leaving that small piece of intriguing hint of something else behind, something to bait her with. The message in the blood was obvious along with the implicit one in Fujimura's disappearance.

Aizen was letting her off. He was letting her off but the threat was there: he was capable of making things happen to those around her if it was what he wanted and she would not be able to do anything about it. He could enter her most protected, most guarded place without any sign but those he left behind. She knew there was no point in searching for clues but if she had not ordered her officers out there would have been suspicion and talk. Talk she could not and would not deal when she had a sword hanging above her head, ready to fall down at any given moment.

Rin always took great pleasure in simplicity. It was her greatest skill and enjoyment to break anything and everything down from its complexity to its basic components, but this was turning out in way she could not anticipate. This was getting way more complicated than she wanted it to be. The events had been unpredictable and hard-hitting, it was clear there was no way of controlling anything. Not without filly declare war on her opponent. She had no clue what his motives could possibly be but it was becoming obvious he was far more skilled and cunning than what she had thought possible.

Rin let out a shout of frustration and kicked her desk. It was sent flying across the small office and banged against the wall and turned into a pile of splinters and broken wood. Rin sat still in her chair, her leg hanging frozen in the air as she stared at the mess. Snarling, she got of from her chair and put out her hand in front of her and let out a burst of kidō and chakra. She watched the pile incinerate but felt no sense of satisfaction, if anything it only made her even more irritated. She kicked her chair away for good measure and then proceeded to leave the remnants of her office.

Wasting no time, she quietly made her way past the various guards on the Onmitsukidō grounds and was within a few minutes sitting on the armrest of the Sōshireikan's chair. She had had a small encounter with the pest commonly referred to as Suì-Fēng. The black-haired girl would most likely not be found for another few hours. The thought of Suì-Fēng tied up, gagged while hanging down from the roof pillars in one of the training rooms, though incredibly immature still brought great amusement to Rin.

She bit her lip while she spent the waiting time thinking of how to present the recent turn of events to her fellow investigators, so to speak. She did not have to ponder for a long time as it only took Yoruichi less than a handful of minutes to arrive with a polite greeting.

"Get off my chair _now_, Rin-chan."

Rin stayed still for a few seconds, making it clear she was not moving because of the order before she lifted herself off it. They both sat down on the pillows around the low table in the middle of the room and a silence stayed for a short while. Yoruichi was openly staring at the younger, waiting for her to say just why she had asked for her while Rin made it a point to ignore it.

"We wait until Urahara is here," she answered the unspoken question before resuming staring into space. They sat quietly for some time until the doors opened and light flooded the room. Urahara was walking mindlessly while rubbing off specks and spots of who knows what from his robes. Wasting no time, he was already opening his mouth and Rin mentally sighed at the thought of the oncoming babble of nonsense.  
"So, I was wondering if I could bring my new Fukutaichō to the Nest."

Yoruichi stared for a few seconds then shrugged "Sure, if she's a danger, she needs to be locked up."

Rin nodded in agreement "What sensei said."

"No, not like that," Urahara let out a light laugh. That deranged idiot "She's being a bit... uhm, difficult, so I thought I'd show her where I previously went about my business."

"No," Rin's voice was sharp "The penalty for informing outsiders is confinement in the Nest or death. As much as I think you're mentally deficient, it seems as if other people are convinced you can actually do something."

Urahara lost his smile and scowled "Be quiet, Rin_-chan_."

"Quiet you two," the purple-haired of them spoke with a hint of amusement then turned serious "But seriously Kisuke, why would you do such a thing? That Sarugaki kid was very close to the previous Taichō. Just give the girl some time, Kisuke," Yoruichi gave him strange look.

"I don't get what you're trying to prove, Urahara," Rin played absent-mindedly with the end of her ponytail "Is she questioning your abilities or something?"

There was a silence and the red-head looked up to see Kisuke looking shocked by her joke. Rin snickered "Smart girl."

Kisuke frowned and gave her a small glare "That's not an attractive behaviour, you know. No wonder there's no men chasing after you..."

"... Care to repeat that?"

"Why is it so dark in here?" the blond wondered aloud, changing the subject before the red-head decided to cleave him in half "Oh right. Rin-chan's phobia of light."

"Amusing, Urahara, really. I'm dying of laughter," Rin dead-panned at him while giving him an angry stare.

"There's no reason to look at me like that, you know," Urahara gave an innocent smile and chuckled lightly "It takes more muscles to frown than smile."

"It takes even less to reach out and hit you."

"My my, you surely seem agitated today."

"You presence agitates me," Rin sent him a smirk, her scar stretching and her eyes glittering from the light shed by the few lone candles around the dark room "I could actually fix that problem."

"Haven't you learned how to play nice yet, Rin-chan?" Urahara continued in his light voice, completely ignoring how the red-head's hand was twitching slightly.

"Watch it, Urahara."

The blond sighed dramatically and looked at Yoruichi "Your student is always so disrespectful, Yoruichi-san."

"Keep saying that and I'll disrespect you with my zanpak-"

"_Would you two just shut the hell up?_ You're Onmitsukidō, not academy students!_"_ Yoruichi bellowed from where she was sitting and made both Rin and Urahara wince at the loud volume. It did, however, made the squabbling pair be quiet. She turned to Rin "Rin, tell us why we're here."

Rin looked at both of them for a few seconds before deciding to just say it straight out "We had a witness, a survivor."

"A witness? That's just what we needed," Yoruichi looked immensely relieved by the news.

"What do you mean you 'had' a witness?" Kisuke had caught on to the wording and Yoruichi's enthusiasm quickly vanished.

"Exactly what I said," Rin replied with a hint of bitterness "We had a witness but now he's gone."

"You had a witness but you let him get away?" Yoruichi's eyes were alight with anger and frustration.

"Do you think I would let a witness get away?" Rin snapped back at her.

"You're the Shinmongun Gundanchō. You only have one purpose, one. And you're telling me you failed?"

"Yoruichi-san, I think you should allow her to finish before yelling at her," Urahara's words carried an edge and even though she gave him a deadly look, Yoruichi became silent.

"I don't know how it happened... He was in an isolated interrogation room. The only thing that was left was a small puddle of blood. No evidence, no signs of fighting. Nothing, he was just.. gone. There was no signs of forced entry into the room and no one had seen or heard anything. If it wasn't for the blood, it would've been as if the witness had never been there in the first place."

The older two had remained silent during Rin's recitation of the event, both of their expressions turning serious as she went on. It was a heavy silence that hung over them after she finished.

"Should we ask the Kidō Corps for help?" Urahara asked while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Rin shook her head.  
"I already requested for their help in the search for him. I already have people searching both Seireitei and Rukongai for him."

"But you don't think they're going to find anything," Yoruichi stated.

"No."

Urahara let out a sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose "This is not good..."

"Oh, it isn't? And I was over here thinking everything was just perfect and dandy, you-," Rin snapped at him.

"Knock it off," Yoruichi cut her off with a commanding tone and a stern look "We need to think this through."

Rin bit back a snarky reply and let her head hang instead, biting her lip to keep from yelling out in frustration. They all shared a look and Rin inwardly kicked the nearest object. This was spinning out of control but they did not know nearly enough to act on it. They were always three steps behind.

* * *

Rin pulled Kuraimaru out of the man's body in a single, fast pull. His face contorted and an agonized scream rung out followed by a series of desperate gasps and moans. Blood pooled out from his mouth in blobs of sticky liquid and smeared across his face and clothes as his knees buckled under his weight. He fell to the ground, hands grabbing the wound on the left side of his chest and stayed still. Her sand-coloured eyes raked over his lifeless form for a few seconds, taking in what had formerly been one of the newer officers of Shinmongun. Within a few seconds, the body began evaporating into small particles of reiatsu, leaving nothing besides the crimson liquid. She reached up and wiped her cheek clean. Blood had splattered from the wound onto her face and clothes, covering her black robes and tanned skin with patches of red but she was far too familiar with the feeling of being covered in the red liquid to feel any different than a civilian would feel when it rained on them. She looked up into the darkened midnight sky and closed her eyes.

The universe had to have begun giving her back for all the atrocities she committed as a shinobi, there was no other explanation.

First Fujimura was gone without a trace. That alone had been taking up far too much of her thoughts as well as her time and her man-power. They had searched for weeks, hell-bent on finding just the smallest hint of a clue, some piece of evidence which could lead them in the right direction. But there had been nothing. All the sleepless nights, all the exhausted officers had all brought nothing besides a few broken branches and some footprints – of course, those prints suddenly disappeared and that was the end of that lead. Aizen was looming in the back of her mind, still hanging as dangerous as ever as the metaphorical sword over her head. He was far too clever, far too skilled to leave anything behind. But still, there was not a doubt in her mind he was the one behind this, plotting something with those so-called experiments.

Of course, besides all of that, she had her ordinary duties as a Gundanchō and as trivial and meaningless as they were, they had to be done. One of these was what had let her to the death of her officer. It was the part of being a Shinmongun Gundanchō she so far enjoyed the least – after paperwork.

The operations within the Onmitsukidō had to remain secret, that much was a given but even more than the Onmitsukidō, the Shinmongun was never allowed to be known for any outsiders. The Onmitsukidō was known for most Shinigami, from academy students to the Central 46 and the Gotei 13 but very few had any idea of what was beyond that. The Onmitsukidō was nothing more than another organization shrouded in mystery and rumours. Still, it was not that big of a deal. The three out of the five branches in the Onmitsukidō divisions were often operating out in the open or even cooperating with either the Kidō Corps or the Gotei 13, especially after the merging with the Second Division. The Maggot's Nest was also known to a few though outsiders were not aware of the true purpose of it.

However, it was different with Rin and the Shinmongun.

While the Onmitsukidō was a secret, the Shinmongun was the skeleton in the closet, only with the closet being bolted shut, covered in cement and thrown into the deepest sea so it would never be found.

The Shinmongun was the dirty little secret, the remnants of the war with the previous enemies of Soul Society. As far as Rin was aware, the only ones outside the Shinmongun division aware of the Shinmongun's existence was the Sōshireikan, the other Gundanchōs and Yamamoto. And for this secret to be kept, it was the duty of the Shinmongun to eliminate everyone aware of this, who were not or no longer in either of those positions. When it had been established thousand of years ago, a kidō spell had been used to ensure the secret would be kept. It would alert whoever the current Gundanchō was if there had been a slip-up of anyone.

And thus, Rin had left from an interrogation to hunt down one of her officers and the one he had blabbered to. And both were quickly disposed of.

Rin lowered her head from where she had been caught up in stargazing and bent down to wipe the bloody steel of Kuraimaru on the grass. Being in the Shinmongun was not a clean affair. Just as those, who failed to keep their mouths shut were silenced, so was the former higher ranking officers if they left the organization – of course, this only applied to the Shinmongun. Which was bullocks. She had tried to change it from the moment she took over the division but she was always overruled by the other Gundanchōs.

She mentally scoffed. Those imbeciles were probably scared of the Shinmongun and their ways. Weaklings. She came back from her inner musings to the real scene. She was about to use a water jutsu to remove the blood from the scene of crime when she stiffened. She was still for a few seconds before she lowered her hands which had been about to begin forming hand seals.

"What is it, Fukutaichō?"

There was a minuscule sound of movement coming from her right.

"I must say your sensory skills are very good," the tall brunette silkily complemented as his figure shimmered into existence. She looked at where he had suddenly appeared with curious eyes. Kidō to camouflage? Inwardly, she rolled her eyes. If being invisible was within the reach of kidō, she was certain he knew how to use such a skill.

"Were you planning on staying hidden or were you waiting to make a grand entrance?" she asked with a hint of mocking sarcasm to her words. Her eyes seemed to casually go over him while she in reality was readying herself for an attack. She was trying to bait him into showing a reaction, anything really, as long as it would giver her more of a clue to his character. She had never been that fond of enigmas and the one in front of her were the most troubling one she had ever encountered – which were saying something considering the shinobi she had come across back in the day.

Aizen gave her a smile "I was merely strolling when I heard noises and decided to make sure nothing was out of order."

"Then how come you did not intervene?" Rin was somewhat unsettled by the fact that Aizen had seen her carry out such an act but what bothered her even more was how she had not been able to sense him at all until she had actually killed her former officer.

"I'm sure you were in good right to kill that man. You do not seem like one to be so careless, Rin-san."

Her eyes narrowed a fraction. The weight in his words were obvious.

"A criminal is a criminal,_" _Rin looked directly into his eyes as she spoke the words. Though her exterior was calm and composed, she could not help but be on edge. She needed to be careful and not push him too far. Aizen's eyes glinted with something but it was too brief for her to make out. The corner of his lip turned upwards.

"And it is the duty of the Onmitsukidō to keep the internal affairs in order," Aizen's expression did not change as he smoothly began walking towards her "It brings peace to my mind to know we have such dutiful Shinigami on our side."

Rin said nothing but continued to watch him in silence. He was now standing a few metres away from her and they were regarding each other silently, Rin's face expressionless and Aizen looking as calm as ever. He was the one to break the silence.

"You must have a lot of trust in your leaders when you're a part of the Onmitsukidō, yes?"

"You must have a lot of loyalty to your comrades," she replied carefully.

"Loyalty and trust are very different things, Rin-san."

Her eyes narrowed.

"I suppose they are," _Both easily faked_, she mentally added as she continued her battle of staring with him. The tension in the air could be cut with nothing less than bankai.

"Shouldn't you be heading back to your division, fukutaichō?"

"Are you in a hurry to catch some more... renegades?"

"As I've said before, you shouldn't keep your eyes on Onmitsukidō affairs," Rin heightened her reiatsu just a small about to show him he was treading on thin ice. Aizen, obviously reading the message behind the change in energy around them, merely let his smile widen a centimetre more.

"One can find information if they look in the right places."

He was saying he would tell her. He was baiting her. He was offering her a position.

But hell would have to freeze over before she even put the slightest grain of trust in that man.

"Information does not equal the truth."

"No, I suppose it doesn't. But is the truth always the best?"

"The truth is neither bad nor good," she eyed him with a fierce gaze "It's simply _the truth_."

"I am curious. Is this an Onmitsukidō affair... or just your own?"

Both had by now dropped all pretence. Rin's eyes were narrowed and her gaze defiant while Aizen's attractive smile had vanished to be replaced by a cold, arrogant smirk.

"I have no intention of taking any side but my own in whatever matter you're planning."

In her mind, she could hear Kuraimaru make a growling sound and she could feel his hatred It was a bold move, she knew but her patience had been stretched too thin from all the constant beating around the bush. By now, she was aware Aizen could go on with their mind game for eternity but she simply did not have the time. Not when things had already gotten so out of hand. Much to her surprise though, Aizen did not react much to her strong statement. If anything, he only looked pleased by it. She mentally set his stupid face on fire. That bastard had probably already calculated her response before he had even arrived.

"One side might prove to be more beneficial than the other. But I supposed you have already considered that."

"I will fight no fights but my own."

"Rin-san, everyone plays a part in this, directly or indirectly. What really matters is what side one is fighting on."

"I don't like repeating myself," she answered with an edge to her voice. The strength that surrounded Aizen at the time was overpowering. His eyes were dragging her in with such a force, like a potent poison. She wanted to look away but she could not back down.

"I have no interests besides staying alive. I can do that just fine on my own."

"You have always been one to go your own ways, I suppose..."

Sand-coloured eyes widened at the statement then narrowed to slits "For how long?"

A smirk "Does a massacre in the woods seem familiar to you, Rin-san?" the brunette sighed after that and then his face morphed back into its former perfect mask "Keep what I have said in mind. One day, you might see the benefit in them. Goodbye for now."

She stood frozen, her eyes locked on the spot where he had been before.

_'Pull yourself together,' _Kuraimaru nudged her in her mind _'Even if he is powerful, he is still just a Shinigami. Your power is far beyond that.'_

_'I know,' _she replied with a frown forming on her face as she went over her and Aizen's conversation in her head. Even with Kuraimaru's words of support, the uneasy feeling wouldn't leave her.

* * *

Despite being on constant alert, nothing remarkably eventful happened over the next period of time. The Shinmongun let the case of the witness end when it became clear they would never find anything remotely close to a piece of evidence. Rin went through her second 'prison cleaning' since she joined the division which was basically just getting rid off all the prisoners who were deemed worthless or sending them to the Maggot's Nest. She learned Urahara had somehow managed to convince Yoruichi to let him bring that Sarugaki girl to the Nest. She briefly toyed with the idea of sealing the detaining building while they were still inside but eventually decided against it since that would mean she would have one less object of entertainment.

She saw Shinji a time or two but always from a far distance seeing as his accursed fukutaichō was always close behind. Speaking of the brunette, she had managed to avoid him so far. Either that, or he was not going out of his way to approach her as he had previously done. Not that she particularly cared which one it was – as long as he stayed the hell away from her, she had no complaints.

Rin was sitting on a branch, leaning back against the trunk somewhere behind the Ninth Division barracks due to yet another round of insomnia. The indigo blue skies above were clear and starless, making the eerily glowing moon the only source of light. She sighed in contentment as she looked at the buildings. Being outside in the open had become a limited experience for her so she took the time to revel in the quiet and silent beauty that was the night. Much like the familiar feeling of resting in trees brought her some sort of old, almost forgotten comfort, the darkness was also like a soothing medicine. Her ever-present headache went away and the stinging bright light always brought to her eyes was gone. She sat for a while, just enjoying the solitude and rare sense of peace before she decided to make something useful of her time; her bankai was far from perfect and as far as she knew, that underground training space of Urahara's was unoccupied.

There was no sound as she jumped down onto the soft grass below. She stretched for a bit and was about to finish up when a hell butterfly came towards her. Immediately, she became wary. Besides Shinji, no one outside of the Onmitsukidō knew her well enough to directly send her a hell butterfly but within the Onmitsukidō itself, usually officers were sent to convey messages. But if a hell butterfly was sent, that meant it was something that should not be known of anyone besides the sender and the receiver. And that only left less than a handful of people.

Extending her finger for the black-winged creature to land on, Rin stared at it in silence, waiting for whatever message it was.

"_Rin_," she made a small nod in recognition of the voice of her former sensei "_Get over here right now_."

The hell butterfly then disintegrated by itself and the red-head wasted no time in speeding towards the Onmitsukidō headquarters while inwardly cursing at herself for being so far away. Once she made it to the guarded building, she sped up and blew by the guards with a speed so fast they merely thought it to be a gust of wind. She arrived at Yoruichi's chambers, skidding to a stop and narrowly avoided colliding with the other, who had been anxiously pacing around.

"What happened?" Rin got out between heavy breaths and when Yoruichi did not immediately answer, she felt the small cluster of uneasy grow exponentially.

"Sensei, what happe- Where's Urahara?" Rin looked around, searching for that mad genius blond. It was always the three of them, her, Yoruichi and Urahara. Not just the two of them. She frowned and looked at the uneasy Yoruichi "Where is he?"

Yoruichi gave a strange expression, somewhere between angered and anxious "The Gotei found out about the disappearances."

"They what? How? We're the only one investigating."

"I don't know," Yoruichi let out a frustrated sound "But they sent out a team to investigate."

"And this relates to Urahara how?"

"Just be quiet and let me finish, damn it," Yoruichi snapped "The team, however, disappeared. And now they've sent the Ninth Division Taichō, the Fukutaichō and some higher ranking officers after them."

Rin lightly frowned at this. That Muguruma Kensei was from the Ninth or something.

"But now they've disappeared as well. Everyone's expecting the worst."

"They were just gone?" Rin was sure she must have misunderstood "Both the investigation team and the team from the Ninth Division?"

"It gets better," Yoruichi's voice was bitter and sarcastic "Now the Sōtaichō sent out a team of Taichōs and Fukutaichōs to figure out what happened. I also have to show up at the First Division tomorrow to explain why we haven't told them anything."

"So Urahara is on the new team?"

Yoruichi shook her head and stared into space, eyes unfocused "On the newest one, there's that Sarugaki kid, the fukutaichō from the Eight and the taichōs from Third, Fifth and Seventh and the fukutaichō from the Kidō Corps. Kisuke went after them."

Rin blinked, stunned, "Why would he do that?"

"How the hell would I know, Rin?" Yoruichi bit back at her and threw her hands up in exasperation "He just said he had to do something and then left."

"But..." Rin hesitated when she saw the almost-hidden pain that flickered across the older woman's face "No one who went out there has returned."

A heavy silence followed her words.

"I know," came the quiet response.

Rin leaned back against the wall near the door with thoughts thundering through her mind. The first team went missing and then Muguruma's team followed but then they were gone as well. Then Shinji went out there with the others. And Urahara had followed. For some reason, the thought made her feel queasy and anxious, for reasons she did not want to figure out.

She exhaled heavily and looked up at the one she had always looked to for guidance but now, there was nothing to give. The two women shared a look and their eyes reflected the same worry and frustration. All they could do was wait.

* * *

I rewrote the conversation between Aizen and Rin like, four times. Adding to that, I was debating whether or not to cut off this chapter after their little meeting but that just seemed too... short and it would kinda make a boring chapter. So I let it go on for a bit longer. I hope you don't mind.

Question of the chapter: I don't have one... so, uh, comment on the chapter instead? If you want?

Question/review replies

Dispair Could you specify what you mean by elemental affinity? Since she's like, both shinobi and Shinigami. (I can't seem to PM you)

- Pairings? Well, I've decided to not let it be the focus of this story, at least not at the current time. If it happens, it will happen because it just kind of fits in. I'm the type that usually ends up letting my story write itself so if it's meant to happen, it will. But there will be absolutely no Rin/Shinji or Rin/Aizen pairing what so ever. Zero. Nil.

- I've also reconsidered the whole flashbacks-thing. I read a story with a lot of 'em and now they just make me feel like vomiting. So I don't think you'll see much of them.

- Sorry about the typo. I've corrected Kensei's title to the right division.

- That ink-thingy... where did that come from? I'm confused.

- I think the bankai-thing is somewhere in the end of chapter 10 if I'm not mistaken.

- I've pretty much decided to do the prequel and have begun writing bits and pieces here and there. However, I will not post it until I've finished this story (or I have a strong change of heart)

Until next time!  
- C


	13. Patience

I made a** fan-art of Rin.** It's not pro or anything but I think it turn out decently. The link is **on my profile.**

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I had actually finished this chapter around the end of July but I had to re-write pretty much everything after I re-watched the episodes. Then my brain decided to short circuit and I spent more than a month writing the final 1,000 words because writer's block and me are apparently meant for each other.

DISCLAIMER: I'm still working on my plan for total manga domination. Beware.

Thought of the day: Imagine if everyone in the world were pansexual...

* * *

No sound could be heard in the sparsely lit room while the two women waited. The shorter one was sitting cross-legged on the hard floor and staring blankly into the air, the taller leaning against one of the walls with closed eyes. The occasional candles cut through the darkness and shed their reddish light and made the wooden walls glow ominously as shadows moved around, constantly flickering and changing shapes as if even the light itself was anxious. There were no windows to give any indications of how long the two had been frozen in their positions, both focused on nothing yet everything at the same time. The silence continued to stretch

Rin had her chin tilted upwards to let the back of her head rest against the wall behind her. She was concentrating her senses, looking for any sign, any indication that there were someone heading in their direction but as time went by, there were still no signs besides the obligatory guards around the area. The more time passed, the more her fingers twitched and the more her feet ached to run after Urahara, as little as she liked him.

She had conversed with Kuraimaru earlier when she had first settled down to wait but even her zanpakutō spirit had not had much to say. The spirit had turned his head once she appeared in their shared inner world, his long black hair catching in the harsh gusts of wind which tended to blow through her inner world's landscape whenever Rin had feelings of unease. His stare had been blank and his words equally so.

_Do not act rashly. It would not solve anything if you went after them._

She looked at her zanpakutō spirit for a few seconds before going back to staring out at the plains before her from where she was perched on a flat piece of rock. She held back a grimace. He was right. Kuraimaru was much similar to herself in his ways though only far more objective and cold, as little as she wanted to admit it. Many a time he had shown he had just as much respect for Shinigami and loyalty to her superiors as Rin herself did. And as much as Rin prided herself in having no attachments besides those to herself and her former comrades back when she was alive, Kuraimaru was as selfish as one could get, but also far more intelligent and cunning. The countless number of times Rin had been on the verge of disregarding everything and run back to Rukongai, leaving all the Shinigami folly behind her, Kuraimaru had stopped her much like he was the one to keep her from behaving recklessly when confronted with an enemy. And at the current time, she had no more reason to go against his calm assessment of their situation than she had had before – meaning none.

_It is comforting to know your senses has yet to abandon you._

"Even if they did, you would bring them back to me." Kuraimaru did not laugh or even gave the hint of a smile but she could feel his amusement all the same.

_That, I would._

She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear but it rebelled in the strong wind and with a small wrinkle of her nose, she decided to ignore the lock of hair dancing around across her face.

It was not as if Kuraimaru had told her something she did not already know but none the less, she was not made for idleness. As she gazed over the jagged, harsh surroundings, her mind was busy trying to sort through the possible scenarios but each and every one of them led back to one source, one cunning, devious origin.

_It was not a wise decision to confront him so openly. _Kuraimaru had silently made his way behind her and as she turned her head, red eyes looked unblinkingly back at her.

She pursed her lips before she replied, "I didn't want to keep playing mind games with that scheming Shinigami." Kuraimaru raised a black eyebrow a few centimetres but enough to convey the sentiment he way aiming to get across. Yet he said nothing. Rin scoffed at her silent companion.

"Stop making faces and make your point."

_If you continued your constant push-and-pull, Aizen would inevitably be the victor. His wit is his strongest weapon._

"Your support amazes me, Kuraimaru." Her zanpakutō spirit gave her a short but hard look.

_Groundless flatter will get you nowhere. You do not need it and I will not be one to give it to you._

"Never did I say I didn't agree with you."

_Fear cuts deeper than swords._

Rin exhaled heavily, "It's not fear, I'm not afraid of Aizen. I just don't like not knowing. I don't know his motives, I don't know his powers, and I... don't know anything about him. No bingo book, no witnesses or survivors from his fighting. I can't even try to estimate his power because his control over his reiatsu is beyond bloody perfect. I've never had so little information."

_You are being foolish. No matter how powerful, he is still just a Shinigami. As long as that is all he is, you will always have the advantage. _Kuraimaru's words were less flat and she could sense his annoyance with her which in turn only frustrated her further.

"How can I have an advantage? It's like fighting the wind; you can't see it, only know it's always around you, never leaving."

With a flurry of black, Kuraimaru flew from his position behind her to face her, his bony, wiry hand gripping her chin. His red eyes were narrowed. _Fool. He is a Shinigami, a powerful one but still, a Shinigami none the less. You are something no one can rival, powers unrelated to reiatsu or a zanpakutō. Never forget who you are._

Rin stared back, not as much as blinking at the sudden move, before her eyes took a less hard glint, "What would I do without you?" she wondered aloud. Kuraimaru looked at her for a few more seconds before he released her chin and went back to his former position beside her.

"From what I've heard, most zanpakutō spirits don't attack their Shinigami. They call them 'Master' as well," Rin spoke somewhat innocently, changing the topic, but there was a hint of teasing in her voice. She did not have to look to know Kuraimaru was staring at her with displeasure.

_I am you and you are me. If you ever try to make me call you anything but your name, I will seal all of your powers._

Rin let out a small laugh. For a time, the howling wind was the only sound heard around them and Rin took the time to rest her cheek against her hand and look at the materialized part of her soul. Always had he been fascinating to her, Kuraimaru. Look-wise they were each other's opposites, his bone-pale skin, smooth contrasting to her own tanned, scarred one much liker her red hair was like heated flames next to his coal black.

_Urahara Kisuke is near._

Her head snapped in the direction of the spirit who was staring back expressionlessly. No further words were shared between them as Rin disappeared from her inner world, pushing herself out of her meditative state and back into consciousness. The senses of her physical body rushed over her with brutal force, no longer muffled as they had been while she had been within herself. She opened her eyes and her gloved hands moved down to rest nearby the hilt of Kuraimaru of their own accord, ready to draw the blade should the slightest need for it arise. Her eyes darted around the room. Yoruichi was pacing around and if the melted down candles were any indicator to go by, Rin deduced she must have been in her sanctuary within for the better part of two hours. Kuraimaru's words still lingered with her but they were moved away from her mind, hidden away for a less tense time. True to what the spirit had felt, Rin could also sense the familiar reiatsu of the blond scientist. It was faint, undoubtedly far away, but it was there none the less and heading in their direction with a great speed only equivalent to that of highly advanced Shunpo.

"He's coming." Yoruichi's head snapped in her direction as the words left her mouth. The older woman then seemed to search herself and her expression changed, even if only small hints of relief became visible. Like her former sensei, Rin was not feeling much reassurance either. Urahara's reiatsu was not as it would normally be but rather fluctuating, diminished, _weakened_. She had known him for years and one thing she could say with certainty about the man, who was the embodiment of an enigma, was she had never felt Urahara Kisuke's reiatsu in such a state. Not when they had sparred until they were both ready to drop from exhaustion and their clothes and skin decorated with cuts and splatters of crimson, not when he had returned from tasking missions, she could not think of an instance where his energy seemed as faint. Knowing that did nothing to soothe the unfamiliar, jarring feeling of unrest inside of her and her teeth once again sunk into her lower lip beneath her face bandages. She held her ground and waited. It was only a minute later when he appeared in a flash of Shunpo and Rin's impassive mask faltered for a second. His hair was dishevelled and with hints of blood dotting the blond, face pale and covered in a thin sheen of sweat. Clothes had tears specks of blood and some sort of white substance were spattered around it, shoulders were going up and down from his heaving breathing. He was carrying a black cloak-looking thing on his arm.

But none of those were as unsettling to Rin as the haunted, distraught look on his face. Urahara Kisuke, the genius inventor, the man who never failed to push Rin's buttons, the one always mentally somewhere far away from everyone else, the one always a step ahead of everyone was now looking ready to keel over where he stood.

Yoruichi was the first to react, quickly moving over to put one of his arms around her neck. Urahara did not have the energy to object and continued to let his head hang down, inhaling and exhaling as if his life depended on it.

"Kisuke, what happened?" Yoruichi questioned him with an expression mixed between anger and worry, her eyebrows furrowed. The blond took a few more breaths before he lifted his head. His eyes looking as if they were swimming, focused on nothing.

"The others. It was my fault, I was... 't was too late. Tessai couldn't stop them. They were... Hollowfication. Aizen, he had two with him... We need to go. Hid them. Tessai and I took them..."

"You took who where?" Yoruichi's voice mirrored the shock and confusion on her face.

"_The others_. The Taichō of the third, fifth, my lieutenant, the Taichō of..." Urahara cut himself off "The barracks. We took them to my lab at the division barracks. We have to get them out of Soul Society." No longer heaving for air as much as before, it was becoming easier to understand what he was trying to say. A groan escaped him and he pressed all his weight onto Yoruichi who fortunately could withstand his weight. Rin went over to grab his other arm and together, the two pulled him back to a standing position.

"Urahara, you're-"

"We need to go. Now," Urahara stressed his words. Rin shared a look with the purple-haired woman and the two nodded before Shunpoing off. It was not an easy way and dragging an exhausted body with you while matching the steps of another did not make it a pleasant trip though it thankfully did not take many minutes before the recognizable division barracks appeared. With the blond leading, they quickly and quietly made their way through the division grounds, eventually stopping outside the lab. Urahara's hand hovered above the code pad for the door. She could not see his expression as his back was turned to her but the nervousness was obvious.

"You said you would explain," Yoruichi's voice was steady as she stared at the barrier with an unreadable expression "Explain."

"Well, I suppose now is an as good time as any," he sighed and turned to face them, face unreadable but eyes pained.

"For a long time, I have always wondered about the difference between Hollows and Shinigmai. Even though they're different, some things are similar. Like the ranks of Shinigami, there are also different ranks of Hollow, both can be very powerful as I'm sure you both know. But that was not the point, really, uh," he rubbed his hands together"You know how both Shinigami and Hollows stem from the same thing."

"Human souls," Rin answered and Urahara nodded.

"Human souls," he solemnly repeated "No one has ever truly figured out the process of the soul chain, not even the components. We can see what is happening and describe it, but the actual reactions... it's a mystery. It is also the process of the konsō stops the soul from turning into a Hollow and this, this change, this alteration... it could be possible to do the opposite." Usually when he talked about scientific topics, his eyes would take a certain glint, one they had when he was fumbling about in his laboratories, the look of excitement and thought processes running at speeds only a select few could match. But there in front of that laboratory, it was as if he seemed resigned, perhaps even just a bit... remorseful?

"What do you mean _opposite_?"

Urahara continued "The power that is granted takes two very different turns depending on the outcome of the transformation, both leading back, again, to the human form. And I became curious about those powers and if... the power can be exchanged."

"Exchanged?" Yoruichi repeated, her lips pursed. Rin was watching the blond intently. There was something in his words that did not sit right with her. He sounded too similar to a particular shinobi she had once had the misfortune of meeting. She blinked, getting rid of the image of a pale, golden-eyed face in her mind and focused fully on Urahara's explanation.

"The line between Hollow and Shinigami..." Urahara thought about his words "It's obvious they're opposites. It a constant war between the two but what if the change process could be changed like it does in the human transformation? What if something could be created, something that could lessen the line between Hollow and Shinigami? And I succeeded in creating such a thing. The Hōgyoku."

"Hōgyo-? What does this have to do with..." Rin cut off, shock flittering across the visible parts of her face "Urahara, you didn't-"

Urahara cut her off, shaking his head, "I didn't. But Aizen did."

"Aizen?" Yoruichi echoed and the blond nodded darkly.

"I don't know how he did it. He might have found some of my research or maybe he had already completed it when I began. Still..."

"So you're saying Aizen used a Hōgyoku to, what? Blur lines? What does that mean?"

"It means..." the strange look from earlier came back on his face. Urahara looked at them, then turned away to face the door "It's better if you just see it for yourself." Urahara pressed in the code, turned the handle and pulled the door open.

Rin almost reeled back, her hand instinctively reaching down and unsheathing her zanpakutō, and a glance at the other woman showed she was not alone in the sentiment. The lab had always been isolated with a blocking matter, making it impossible to sense even a hint of reiatsu from it as long as it was closed, and thus Rin had not sensed anything. But when the door was opened, she could not keep her eyes from widening then narrowing and falling into a battle stance. The reiatsu leaking out was not like anything she had ever experienced or even heard of. There was a darkness to it. It was not just heavy, it was suffocating, running over her skin, enveloping and stabbing at her senses. Urahara seemed to either not have noticed – which was impossible for even an academy student – or he had expected it, which was probably a given. Rin turned to look at Yoruichi for an answer only yo see the purple-haired woman stare distrustfully at the entrance, glancing between it and the blond man in front of her. Urahara was the one to move first, walking inside. The two women shared a look before following, alert and aware.

The lab did not appear to be anything out of the ordinary, as far as laboratories goes. The sight that greeted them, on the other hand, was most definitely normal. Yoruichi gasped aloud but the sound did not come completely through to Rin, who had stopped dead in her tracks when her brain processed the scene in front of her. The bodies of the earlier dispatched Fukutaichō and Taichō were scattered across the cold floor, not looking much more alive than the tiles below them. Her eyes scanned across them, registering and categorizing their different states and appearances, and she unconsciously bit her already dented lower lip harshly. Clothes were torn, covered with what seemed like dirt and bits of blood. Cuts, bruises and wounds were on everyone, not one was unscathed though nothing seemed life threatening. At the very least.

"Those masks..." Yoruichi's voice was breathy, shocked, shaky, the type of voice only a handful of people could claim to have heard come from the Shihōin heir's lips.

For all Urahara's talking, it could not be real. There was no way. It should not be possible, it should not be able to happen. It was madness.

"I'm not sure yet but it seems they're the physical manifestations of the hollowfication..." He went off into a technical explanation of the process and other genius stuff, barely comprehensible for Rin. Her eyes had stopped darting around and had stopped, frozen, on one body. With her shoulders stiff and her jaw clenched, she continued to stare at the body that had once belonged to Shinji. No. It was still him, he was just... The body silhouette was familiar, everything was, from the blonde hair to the zanpakutō by the hip. Everything but the white mask which covered his face. The bony material was thick, seemingly impenetrable; irreversible. Even if she had been the type to shy away from the brutality of reality, even then, there was no denying what had happened, what now was, when it was right in front of her, almost mockingly. Taking a deep breath, she focused more on the words being spoken around her. She finally tore her eyes away from Shinji, instead looking at the tall, broad man equipped with what looked like a staff sitting quietly on a chair close by Urahara and Yoruichi. The three were discussing back and forth, Yoruichi mostly asking questions for Urahara to answer with the other man occasionally adding something. As she looked at the three, a warm feeling rushed through her that without warning turned blazing. The image of Shinji's pale body, the bodies of all the others, all masked continuously flashed through her mind. Meanwhile, Urahara was still explaining to a stiff Yoruichi whose expression became increasingly disgusted as if she was slowly being filled up with polluted water.

"What does this mean?" The three turned around to look at Rin who was staring into the air in front of her with a faraway look in her eyes, lips tightened.

Urahara regarded her for a few seconds, then looked at the other Shinigami on the floor then back at the redhead again, "What do you mean?"

"What I mean-" Rin cut off herself off and pressed her fingers against her temple and tried to calm herself "I mean _what does this mean_ or was that too hard to understand?What are they now? Shinigami? Hollows? Are they even going to make it when everything's been, what, blurred?"

"They're not... any of those. You can see the masks," Urahara gestured with his hand "They look like the masks Hollows wear but their zanpakutōs don't seem to have changed. I succeeded at stabilizing them but like I've always said: there are no guarantees with experiments."

Her eyes narrowed, jaw clenching, "Experiments?" she repeated with anger in her voice _"Experiments? _You experimented on them?_"_

"I didn't mean it like t-"

"Like what? What did you mean, Urahara?"

"You know what I meant-"

"I do? Really? How about you explain it again and tell me how those people over there are only experiments? Try that." Rin had clenched her one hands and stared the blond down with a burning glare. She felt as if she was burning inside.  
"Don't talk about things you know nothing of," Urahara rebutted, looking grave and pissed off at the same time "They would've become full Hollows by now if I hadn't stepped in."

The insinuation he made, that she knew nothing of experiments almost made her draw Kuraimaru against him. Faces and places of a different time entered her mind, faces in pain, agonized screams and her standing still. She held back a growl at the blond; it was _he _who knew nothing, "Let me make something clear-"

"Rin, stop it, damn it. This is not the time for arguments," Yoruichi entered the growing dispute with the intention of calming her student but only succeeded in adding fuel to the fire. Their voices were raised, both Rin and Urahara now almost in each other's faces though the former was far more riled up than the latter.

"So stabilizing was all you could do? That was the extent of the powers of the genius inventor, the creator of the Research Department, a mere stabilizing? And you don't even know if they'll live or not? That's bloody pathetic," Rin grabbed his collar "You better do something about this mess or I'll turn you into one, do you hear me?"

"I've done more than you have," he countered, far more calm than the other, trying to pull free from the iron grip the redhead had on him. Rin then suddenly released her grip and jumped back, barely avoiding getting Yoruichi's foot in her face. She looked up with angry eyes but her former sensei just glared back with equal force.

"Get yourself together!" Yoruichi's voice was hard and sharp, whipping her words on the younger "Look at yourself! Attacking the one who risked everything to save them? If he hadn't gone after them, they would have disappeared just like everyone else! If he had done nothing, there's no chance they would've made it so stop blaming him! Are you really that stupid? Just think, damn it!"

Her outburst was followed by a silence, ringing clearer and louder than the words themselves, wrapping around them like a suffocating layer. Urahara away with an unreadable face, hair covering his eyes in shadow and his lips pressed together. Rin looked from his to Yoruichi, the woman who had always been one of the select few to always be straight up with her. The two women's stare down was back, sand reflecting anger and frustration, yellow burning with the same. Tension was thick in the air and both had unconsciously slipped into subtle fighting stances. Yoruichi, noticing, relaxed though her expression stayed the same but when Rin remained as before, her eyes took on a hint of concern.

Rin finally dropped her eyes to the ground but her posture was still tense. Underneath her face bandages, her teeth had finally dug through into the soft flesh of her lip and the familiar taste of blood slowly dripped into her mouth. Her fist was clenched tightly, almost shaking with the force as she continued to stay quiet. Yoruichi's words had hit her harder than she herself probably knew of. She had lost her reason, flooded by a tidal wave of emotions from a different time, from a past she could never relive. She had been unprepared for the betrayal of her own self-control. For reasons she had never faced, because of feelings she always pushed back.

Then, her attention was drawn away from her inner trail of thought and she looked up sharply, hand grabbing the hilt of her sword in an instant. "Someone's coming.", causing the others to react much like she had.

"Yoruichi-san, Rin, you two get out of here now," Urahara ordered, eyes sharp and with an air of authority around him which was a rare sight despite his rank.

"What, and leave you here? No w-"

"Sensei, we should go," Rin cut the other woman off. There was little time to waste as the approaching Shinigami came closer by the second and judging by their number and speed, they were obviously not just coming for a routine check. Rin watched as Yoruichi and Urahara shared a look before the latter gave a minuscule nod. Yoruichi then turned to her former student and without looking back, they both escaped the laboratory.

They moved at their fastest speed, aiming to get away before the others could notice the two women's presences. They continued in total silence, vegetation and buildings blurring past them and they did not stop or slow down until they had reached the safer quarters of Yoruichi's personal chambers.

"What do we do now?" Rin asked, her breathing somewhat laboured by the fast sprint away from the Twelfth Division.

The look in Yoruichi's eyes were troubled and she took a moment of silence before turning away, "I don't know."

"We should go back," Rin proposed, causing Yoruichi to turn her head back to her "We need to know what the other Shinigami wanted with Urahara."

"We can't," Yoruichi's voice sounded calm but there was an edge to it "I need to stay here and you need to go back to your own office. Whatever happens to him, the Onmitsukidō will be told."

Rin nodded and kept a scowl off her face. Patience. Bloody hell.

* * *

Yoruichi's prediction came true and only about a handful – painfully slow – of hours had passed before a Hell Butterfly appeared before Rin, making her eyes widen. Quickly, she put away the paperwork she had been distracting herself with and held out a finger for the messenger insect to land on. When it disintegrated itself moments later, she was left alone sitting with an utterly and completely shocked look on her face, not even having the control to manage her expression.

He had been arrested. Urahara Kisuke had been arrested for conducting hollowfication experiments. The other man, Tessai, who had turned out to be not only high ranking but the Taichō of the Kidō Corps, had been arrested alongside him.

Her fisted hands were shaking and her lips thinned, for once visible as she saw no need to mask herself around the Shinmongun area. The news hit her, hard. Even though she had expected it, predicted it even, there had still been a part of her, minuscule as it was that had hoped for another outcome. But reality was a cruel master, growing hope only to rip it away once the seed had grown, reaping all and leaving only barren ground behind.

She swiftly got up and began pacing around, frowning or shaking her head or occasionally as she dismissed yet another of the wild stream of ideas running through her head.

Going to the cells to see Urahara personally was out of the question.

But she needed to talk to him, he had information-

What did it matter when she could not get to him?

Sneaking around Seireitei was easier than sneaking into a civil village and did not require more than a small fraction of the skill it took to infiltrate a Hidden Village-

The security must have been upped.

Constant personal watch, no doubt.

She could wait. No, something might happen. The guards...

Bribery. Or they might be Onmitsukidō officers-

Too much of a risk, she was an Onmitsukidō Gundanchō, known-

If it were Shinigami officers-

They would not risk using any less than Onmitsukidō-

Yoruichi. She needed to contact her sensei.

Hell butterflies could be tracked. Messenger?

Too risky. She did not know their loyalties. If she used the teleportation justu-

There might be others. She was too faraway to sense where Yoruichi was.

If she got closer-

If she was too slow, she could be noticed.

The Central 46 may have her watched as well.

No, not her. They would most likely have Yoruichi under watch. She was known for being close to Urahara.

She could use a transformation jutsu or a genjutsu-

What if someone noticed she was not in her office-

Shadow clone. Besides, Takeda would take her side.

But he could not be dragged into the mess.

She could wait-

Waiting was not going to do any good. She needed to help Urahara-

Why should she help him? The bastard was the one researching Hollowfication, even if Aizen was the one doing the experiments-

They were not the same. Aizen was a twisted-

Aizen had not done much worse than she herself had-

No, not now.

Urahara had still created that Hōgyoku-

She was just as despicable in her former actions- No.

Urahara was one of the few people there was an actual chance to ally with, leaving him for dead would be the most cowardly act.

It was not safe to contact Yoruichi.

Urahara was arrested.

She could not expose anything besides what had already come out in the open.

Rin let out a frustrated yell and slammed her fist against the metal wall with enough force to make the hard material cave in around the mark of impact.

She had no choice but to wait. She let out an angry huff as she pulled back her fist, leaving a bloody mark with tracks of crimson running down on both the wall and her hand. She glanced down and saw some bone peeking out and grimaced. But bloody hell, did her uselessness pain her far more than her hand.

* * *

Additional thought of the day: Obito, I saw you coming from a hundred chapters away. But I appreciate the effort.

A/N: I've written about 500 words of the next chapter so hopefully, I'll get it up within September.

Question of the chapter: Not really fic-related, but what do you guys think of the latest developments in the Bleach and Naruto mangas? I'm personally sitting here in a big goo of uncontrollable feels.

As always, if there is something you didn't quite get, if you have ideas, predictions for my plot(I love those!), comments, or just anything, please leave it in a PM or a review. I don't bite.

… much.

Until next time!

- C


	14. Evasion

A special thank you to all who have read, followed, favourited, and/or reviewed. I have no idea why bother with me when there are so many wonderful pieces out there but honestly. I would have stopped posting a long time ago if I didn't feel like I should return what you've given me.

Thought of the day: If you try to prove Murphy's Law, will you fail?

* * *

"We need to clear it of evidence before we move them."

"I'll cover up the reiatsu around here then you do-"

"Physical evidence, I know," the redhead cut the other off "Now let's move. We've got no time."

The two women gave each other a nod and both remained silent as they went on to do their task of covering the traces to the best of their abilities. No more time was wasted and they moved with blurring speed and sharp, routine-worked efficiency around the laboratory, only occasionally breaking the silence with a murmur of an incantation in order to cover the traces left around. Blood was wiped, dirt was removed, hair and ripped clothing gathered and disposed of, and all the various gadgets, instruments and wires were fixed back into their original positions. While her hands were busied, her mind was left with enough capacity to go through the events and her expression went through periodic changes of frowning, eye narrowing, thinning lips and nose wrinkling. While she wanted to do nothing more than push the matter and conspirational thoughts invading her away and focus at the matter at hand, things had simply developed beyond her expectations. Not in a million years would she have predicted Aizen to make such a bold move so soon - but that was not the axis of her troubled thoughts It was the trial, the framing of Urahara. There were clues, puzzle pieces everywhere but none of it could be pieced together. Understanding the motives behind actions were essential, a lifetime of work in Kirigakure had mercilessly and repeatedly drilled it into her. But nothing was making sense was. Only, in a way it did. It made sense to get rid of suspicious watchers when one was attempting a devious act – she herself had used this method back in the day together with Zabuza just before they went rogue – but by the gods, she could not make sense of why. _Why _was so many attacked at once? _What _was the purpose, what were the attackers aiming for? Rin gritted her teeth in frustration. She was back where she had started, puzzle pieces in hand but no instructions, no idea what image she was supposed to create with them. It was maddening, frustrating, unsettling, tormenting and taunting her, flaunting her ignorance in her face whenever she tried to connect all the strings which were spread out all over, going in different direction. If only-

"Rin."

She stalled for a brief moment then looked around, noting the room had been cleared. She then glanced at the other. Yoruichi was looking at her with a frown.

"Yes, let's get them out of here," Rin responded, masking her shock with practised ease "The underground practice ground should do it, right?"

"... Yes, it should."

"Then let's go," Rin walked over then paused in front of the first person she came across, the short blonde fukutaichō then turned back to look at Yoruichi "How are we going to do this?"

Yoruichi's expression turned thoughtful as she looked over the bodies "It's too risky if we try to get her down together and she's not strong enough to make it safely by herself."

"She's unconscious. They all are. Of course they can't," Rin deadpanned.

There was a moment of silence then an indignant scoff. Rin shrugged.

"Just pointing it out. Who knows what things might start to slip at your age..."

A glare, "Student."

A blank expression, "Sensei."

"_Rin."_

"That would be my name, yes."

"Enough, this is _not _the time."

Rin gave no verbal response, continuing to look evenly at the older woman. Yoruichi exasperatedly ran her fingers through her hair before looking at the gathering of unconscious shinigami.

"Let's just carry them," the older suggested, taking Rin by surprise. Why had she not of something that obvious.

"All right. In one go?"

A nod.

No more words were exchanged. Rin bent down and hoisted the small blonde onto her shoulder.

"Careful," the smaller of the two women cautioned. The taller huffed in response and bent down again to grab onto another of the unconscious shinigami from the ground below, hoisting the body onto her shoulder. Rin straightened up without faltering under the heavy weight, not bothering to give an answer.

Yoruichi rolled her eyes, "Just be careful not to drop them."

Once again Rin opted keep silent, instead choosing to eye the five people the shorter one was carrying as if they were nothing but sacks of flour with a telling glint in her eyes. Her point came across clearly and Yoruichi showed a small smirk in response.

"Everything's cleaned, right?" Yoruichi checked for the final time and her former student gave a nod in response. Yoruichi took one last look around the laboratory before turning towards the door "Let's go before they realize we're gone."

The two looked at each other for a moment then took off in silence, leaving no traces of disturbance behind them. They got out of the laboratory and in a few seconds, they were running out under open air. The inky covers of night kept them hidden under the clear skies, neither moon nor stars lighting up their path, Yoruichi in front, Rin taking the rear guard and covering their tracks. The path was covered at the fastest pace they could do without leaving too many tracks or jostling the bodies too much. The silence around them was tense.

The female shinobi's senses were heightened by the gravity of the situation. Each gust of wind, the sound of the grass and leaves moving was loud and clear. Her footsteps seemed closer to trampling on hard floor in the night. Sand coloured orbs were constantly changing direction, restlessly scanning the surroundings for the most minuscule trace of other people. The edginess, the adrenaline, the importance of what she was trying to do and the knowledge of what would follow if she failed... A hint of a smile was hidden beneath the cloth covering her face. It was almost like the good old times.

The duo escaped the Gotei 13 grounds quickly without much event except for an instances when they had to hide for a few seconds to avoid a patrol unit. Not that such a thing was much of a hindrance for the Onmitsukidōs top officers but still, the moment they noticed the patrols heart rates were accelerated and the pace was increased. Without alerting Yoruichi, Rin cast a genjutsu over the oblivious shinigami. She watched intently in her peripheral vision for any signs of disturbance within the patrol unit. The distance between her and them was great and there was a small chance she had messed up. Her mind was already working on different escape and attack plans if that one in a thousand chance turned out to be a reality. Damn it, she was risking everything; genjutsu had never been her forte, no, she had been painfully mediocre in the art of illusion.

She let out a small sigh in relief when she saw no changes. They were still walked as casually as they were before. She turned her attention back to the one running in front of her with a minor burden off her shoulders. In silence she continued.

There was no room for mistakes. They could not be caught.

Nothing else was encountered on the remaining path and they successfully made it to their destination. The entrance to the underground revealed itself when Yoruichi placed her hand on a seemingly ordinary piece of rock. Lines appeared, cutting through the hard material and a trapdoor appeared. The two gave each other a nod and then Yoruichi took a step forward, disappearing from sight, and she quickly followed. She jumped down, a vertical free fall from, the only thing keeping them alive being the frequent stops of airborne ground Rin created along the descend. She mentally thanked her old sensei for constantly making her do water walking exercises back in Kiri as she continued the descend. The sandy ground beneath her came rushing towards up, everything beside her turning into an undistinguishable blur of black and brown from the neck-breaking speed. It took no more than a few seconds before she landed on the ground, safely although a bit too roughly for her own critical mind, and she gave herself a mental kick for her slacking off with her basic training.

"Now all that's missing are the mad scientist and the kidō guy," Rin commented, looking over the seemingly endless waste around them.

Yoruichi nodded, "Don't worry about them. I'll get them here."

"And then?"

"Then we escape."

"There's no safe place besides here," Rin glanced around briefly, eyes resting on the masked shinigami "I'm not a scientist but Hueco Mundo will most likely not do any good to that hollowfication process they're going through."

"The world of the living then?"

"Well yes, unless you're planning on staying here until-"

"No sarcastic comments right now, thank you."

"Aye, Taichō," Rin gave a sloppy salute but was the jab was ignored by the other woman.

"They stand trial tomorrow. I'll break them out and return here and leave this place."

"I suppose I'll just be waiting here then. When is the trial?"

"At dawn." The Central 46 was wasting no time then, were they? She mentally sneered at the old geezers. Those fools were too blind to see anything but the boards in front of them, blinded by their own power and 'righteousness'. Absolutely pathetic.

Time was of the essence and once everything had been secured, the two existed the underground and after checking for any over-looked trails and the like, parted ways, Yoruichi to the Second Division and Rin to the Shinmongun. Rin's mind was calculating once again as she transported herself directly into her own office only minutes before a knock sounded and one of her officers entered. She listened with half an ear to the report and then quickly dismissed him. She sat atop her desk with her eyebrows furrowed in thought. If they wanted to come unscathed out of this, the Bloody hell, what was she doing in this tangled mess anyway?

* * *

In the end, everything did go according to plan and Rin was once again back at the underground space with nothing but dry sand and immobile corpses for company, and it did not take much time doing, well, nothing before she pulled out Kuraimaru to meditate. While waiting for the soon-to-be-escapees to arrive, her clone was busy listening to the monthly reports from all Shinmongun officers. Her alibi was water proof and there was nothing which could relate her to the crime she was about to take part in. Well, she mused, unless someone was to attack her clone or somehow make it disappear. Even then, she would simply use the transportation jutsu to return and dish up some typical, vague hint and continue the work her clone had been doing.

Time went by but without any indicators of its passing in the barren place. Seconds walked away, chased by minutes who in turn got caught by hours, fluidly exchanging and moving between each other until finally, the trapdoor opened. From inside her own world, Rin sensed the change and made return to her conscious state. She opened her eyes and got to her feet, watching the arrived trio with attention. It did not look – to both her surprise and her expectation - as if the two prisoners had not suffered during their brief confinement neither during their escape with the purple-haired woman. There was barely any exchange of words before Uruhara pulled an object of god-knew-what origin and opened up a gateway to the human world. It was not the usual door shinigami used, Rin noticed in passing while picking up a few of the unconscious hollowfication victims to carry away. As they entered, it became obvious to Rin that it was without a doubt one of Urahara's numerous illegal experiments. She, as all other shinigami, had travelled between dimensions several times and the tunnelesque path they had entered was not the authorized pathway normally used. She looked down at the surface beneath her, only to see there was nothing. The closest thing she could describe it as was it felt sort of like stepping on dense air spots only less... airy. More materialized but not quite a matter either.

"What do we do from here, Urahara-dono?" the large Kidō Corps leader asked. Rin almost snorted at the respectful addressing of the one whom she had dubbed the mental one.

"From here..." Urahara glanced back at the closing gateway behind them "We run."

The scene would probably have been quite charismatic if not the redhead had decided to scoff and roll her eyes,"And here I thought we were going to be having a carnival."

Urahara turned around with an incensed glare but did not humour her with an answer, choosing to look back forward instead, "Let's go."

"Ooh, scary," Rin muttered. She adjusted the two people on her shoulders before dashing off after the three, Urahara in front and Rin as the rear. The quartet went off with their speed enhanced by shunpo. The unfamiliar surroundings did not sit well with her neither did the small voice in the back of her mind – sounding deceptively like Kuraimaru – constantly questioning her reasons for her out-of-character behaviour. The number of people she had met in her existence who could rile her up enough to make her act in such ways could be counted on one hand. She mentally cursed a certain blonde-and-purple duo as she followed.

Her eyes were taking in the new surroundings, watching as Tessai checked over the others, who had yet to wake up, though he was undoubtedly listening to the argument. Once they had exited that blasted tunnel, they had landed somewhere, thankfully, remote piece of mountainside landscape. The air was definitely thinner than in where they had come from. Probably the density of, well, something scientific she neither could nor would attempt to understand. Sandy eyes rested on a single form for a second before returning to the man in front of her.

Her voice was firm and unyielding, "No. I'm staying."

Urahara stared back equally,"You're not."

"Fine. Make me."

"Are you serious right now?"

"Oh no, I'm all smiles and jokes obviously."  
"You're not exiled, _we _are. You're a shinigami, your-"

"Don't put me together with those weaklings," she sneered.

"Rin, we're in the middle of this and you're not helping."

"Oh wow, nowhe acts like a leader," Rin's voice was harsh and calm but her hand was already on the handle of her zanpakutō. Urahara mirrored her move. She gripped the leather-bound metal. "Who put you in charge? This is all because of you, you and your experiments."

The man's face went from frowning and glaring to utterly stunned in a flash. His body stilled as if she had drawn her weapon and not her words. The silence rang even louder in the quiet that followed and her words hung in the air like a thick smoke, poisonous lines curling between them. It was as if something had been dropped and shattered on the rocky ground beneath their feet. Like an ice shard in pieces, they were both coldly staring each other down and both had their hands on their zanpakutō.

She did not regret it. If he had not trifled with hollowfication of all things, they would not be here. It was a low blow and a painful one at that but it was the truth. She knew it, he knew it and she would be damned if she would let a bloody scientist drag her around by her ears like a submissive dog. If she had a weapon, she would use it. The words had been spoken with her usual calm anger and their bite was now opening a gaping wound between the two.

The strained muteness stretched on until Urahara finally broke it, his words just as cold as the ambiance, "What do you want then? Should we have left them to be executed?"

His jaw was tense and proverbial lightings were shooting from his eyes. If he was trying to intimidate her, he was failing miserably, "And you're certain they won't be executed here exactly how?"

"Rin_, _that's_ enough,_" Yoruichi cut through with an edge to her words sharper than any blade. "Now both of you shut up before I shut you up permanently."

As if you could, Rin mentally added but opted to keep silent for once.

"What are you doing, shouting at each other? Like children. It won't help anything so calm the hell down."

Her outburst had stopped the two from verbally attacking each other further but their eyes remained on each other, conveying their words silently with narrowed, angry eyes. Yoruichi saw it and let out a frustrated sound in exasperation. "_Stop it._ Kisuke, stop wasting time and figure out whatever you have to and make them wake up. And you," She turned to Rin. "You're going back."

Urahara sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Rin theatrically looked down on her feet, "It doesn't seem like I'm going anywhere. Are you feeling al-"

"Don't start with me, that's an order."

"You're exiled, you can't give anyone orders," Rin returned. If there had been an inkling of reason to stay in the Soul Society, it left when the others did. If she was going back, it was to raze the place to the ground. It was despicable, what they had done to their own.

"Rin," Yoruichi gave her a look which, if she did not know any better, looked an awful lot like pleading. "You're the only one who still has a chance to keep an eye on Aizen."

Whatever biting retort Rin had thought of died on her lips. There was no arguing with that.

"If I may say so, I believe she's right, Rin-dono." Rin looked up when the large man of the Kidō Corps spoke for the first time in a while. She gave him a once-over but did not dignify him with an answer. As if his opinion held any sort of weight over her. The fool ought to shave his moustache instead of being all up in her business. Kidō nerd.

* * *

When Takeda returned with the 'inventory' reports his superior had demanded, he did not find anything out of the ordinary. His Gundanchō was the same as usual, legs crossed on top of the desk with a collected-yet-bored look on her face with the bandages she usually wore thrown carelessly in a mass atop some other papers. Little did he know he had been working under a clone for the past day and the one in front of him now was his real Gundanchō, freshly returned from an illegal escape.

"The reports, Rin-Gundanchō," he announced before placing them on the desk. The red haired woman glanced at the files and expectedly, she wrinkled her nose a little.

"Thank you, Takeda. Exactly what I needed. More paperwork," she dragged out the syllables at the end. She did not stop writing except for dipping her brush in the ink pad again. "Are there any new leads in the witness search?"

"Nothing. The trails are all cold or they turn out to be something different."

"Just brilliant," Rin wrote her signature in a lazy stroke before starting with the next paper. "Halt all the searches. We're closing it but leave a request at the Keigun and the guard squads near Seireitei to look out for the man." Not likely it would lead to anything. Aizen was not stupid enough to leave loose ends like that but at least, it made her feel as if she was doing something while the others were stuck in that bloody human world.

"How much do I tell them?"

"Is there something wrong with how we usually handle these little situations?"

"... No."

"Then how about we tell them what we always tell them?" Rin glanced up briefly at her second-in-command before flipping another page.

"Got it. Another thing, Gundanchō, the new recruits will be here at sundown."

"You take care of them this time, Takeda. Give them a little scare for me."

There was a minuscule pause "Yes, Gundanchō."

She looked up when he was still there, standing silently with a mildly unsure look on his face, "Are you going to say it, Takeda, or are going to make me guess?"

The man looked confused, his mouth opening and closing before he got control himself, "Gundanchō, I have a question."

"And here I thought you were constipated," she remarked, eyes scanning over a report on one of the prisoners in the Maggot's Nest. The Keiratai was a common joke between the other Onmitsukidō division for the amount of reports they piled onto the other branches. "Speak then."

"About the missing officers and the Sōshireikan..." Rin mentally grit her teeth. "Why did the Central 46 ban us from investigating?"

"Because the Onmitsukidō is being investigated. It's understandable with a few of the missing shinigami coming from here."

"I see. It's quite something, with so many officers suddenly disappearing but with the Central 46 investigating and a ban..."

"That's why we're going to find out."

Takeda looked up and nodded in understanding, catching on to his superior's thinking, "Quick and quiet?"

"As always," She caught his eye and held it. "You know what will we'll have to do if they're caught."

"Yes, Gundanchō."

She gave him a nod in dismissal and saw Takeda salute her in her peripheral vision before he disappeared. She stopped writing for a moment to look after him. She was lucky to have him with his unquestioning loyalty and trust in her.

The rest of the day was spent in a strange sort of haze for her. She barely registered the words before her but even paperwork was a welcome distraction to keep all of her focus from the mess surrounding her. She continued her bureaucratic task until all request, reports and files were done. She tried to make it last longer by sorting them into various categories but there was only so much she could do. It may have been the only time she had wished for the Shinmongun to have the amount of paperwork a normal Gotei 13 division had. Her hours wasted away and once the darkness had settled, she uncrossed her legs and disappeared from her office in a puff of smoke. She silently landed on her feet in between the trees of the forest outside of Rukongai. She easily swung her way up a thick, gnarled branch of an old tree next to her and settled down on it. The bark and the small poking branches would be uncomfortable to most. But for Rin, it was one of the closets ting she had to remember her past. Kirigakure. The Shinobi World.

Back when she was alive, the forest had always calmed her as much as the seas did. The sound of the wind blowing through the foliage and the animals cricketing and chirping about had always, no matter the situation, made her feel calm. Even if she was fighting and cutting through trees left and right with blood splattering and falling like sticky rain, the forest had always brought her a sense of protection. She could easily hide, escape or ambush.

Amused, she briefly thought of Shinji and how he always seemed to find her at times such at those. He so often did, back when things were simpler. Not even that much more boring, just... simpler. Uncomplicated. And this time, he could not. She closed her eyes. Now it was a question of whether or not he would ever wake up. And if he did, would he still be himself? She had understood the general idea of the hollowfication – the word still made it feel as if maggots were crawling across her skin – but when even the creator of it did not know what to expect, things did nook look too well. Thruthfully, it felt as if were much longer than some hours ago she and Yoruichi had walked with Urahara into his laboratory to see the results of Aizen's experiments.

Yoruichi had been right. She was the only one who could keep track of that fake bastard now.

But that had been obvious yet she had not thought of it. Why had she not thought of it?

Because she was distracted.

She was not. Distracted was never a word which could describe her.

Really, now? So she had not been too busy whining and pining, worrying for that Shinji-

Her attachments to that blond were non-existent. Merely amusement and an inkling of a like-mindedness-

Amusement, what a way to put it.

Back on track. Keeping an eye on Aizen.

She could do it.

He was already aware of her. He had made his intentions clear.

She was watched.

She would have to move quietly.

No more loitering about, yes.

She could do it. Just like the old times.

Just like the old times.

Her hand suddenly twitched as if to draw Kuraimaru but as it turned out, it was only a hell butterfly that appeared. She stared at the small creature flapping innocently with its dark wings in the air in front of her and took a calming breath. She was one edge even more than usual and since Yoruichi and she had found the hollowfied shinigami, her old missing-nin instincts had surfaced. She could hide it decently around the Shinmongun with the knowledge that no one could enter unless she had personally given them authorization (and Aizen apparently, which was not comforting in the least) but out in the open, she could not keep her eyes from darting everywhere and constantly searching for nearby presences.

She relaxed her clenched hand and reached up to let the butterfly land on her finger.

_This is a message for Onmitsukidō Gundanchō Rin. Report to the Central 46 immediately for questioning_.

* * *

"What were you doing?"

Rin resisted the urge to roll her eyes and give the men cowering behind those paper screen a bitingly sarcastic response, "Classified. Same as the last times you asked."

It was another voice speaking up this time, coming from her right, "You were the personal student of one of the traitors. She gave you your current position."

Silence.

"Speak."

"My bad," Rin drawled. She was really getting tired of these imbeciles. "Generally, you only answer questions but I suppose you do things differently here-"

"_Silence_. Mocking the Central 46 is not helping your case, Gundanchō. You're obstructing the investigation."

"Obstructing? Hardly. I'm answering all the questions to the best of my ability. I would be able to tell you more if you had let my division conduct an investigation but since you removed that option... this is all I can give."

"Enough. You're treading a fine line here, Gundanchō. Don't cross it."

Rin mentally snorted at the poor thing. How could they breathe in here with their egos taking up all the air space was a mystery.

"_W_e are the rules, Gundanchō. When we ask you to tell us something, you tell us."

"Have you forgotten the restrictions you put on the Onmitsukidō when you created it?" Fools.

"_We will not stand for this_. Answer the question: What were you doing yesterday?"

"I already answered that."

"We will not tolerate any further mocking from the likes of you! Remember you place, _Gundanchō_. We will have you arrested if you continue this."

Rin's eyes narrowed, the sandy colour glinting dangerously in the lightning, "Arrested? For what? Following the rules you yourself made? Not even you people can be that stupid. Your rules make me unable to tell you anything. Therefore I'm doing nothing but following the rules you set up. So unless you want the whole Soul Society to know what goes on inside the Onmitsukidō, I have nothing to say. Now if you would excuse me, some of us have a job to do."

She turned on her heel and strode out from the room. When the guards moved to stop her, she sent them her most vicious glare, challenging them to twitch as much as their eye against her. She left the Central 46 compound, hair swinging in the wind and eyes hard. She took off in shunpo, putting as much distance between her and the Central 46 compound as fast as she could. The place gave her the creeps with its underground structure. It reminded her too much of things she would rather keep buried. She had barely sat down in her office after surveying the recruits Takeda had selected when one of her top officers, Nishikawa, entered. She looked at her for a few moments before pinching the bridge of her nose. Was it 'Shit on the red-heads day' or something?

"You might as well make yourself comfortable if you're going to be loitering about here all day," Rin said dryly gave her officer a bland look. The woman immediately bent down on her knee to deliver her message.

"There is an officer from the First Division waiting for you at the Second Division barracks, Gundanchō. Aizawa Ide, fifth seat. He says his message is for your ears only."

_You have got to be kidding me._

"I hope it's not a love confession," Rin commented before standing up although she felt more inclined to kick the officer out, slam the door and hole up in her office. "Alright then. Dismissed."

It was not a love confession after all. Instead it was a summon from the Sōtaichō himself. Many things were possible and she systematically ran through different possibilities in the short while it took her to get from the Second to the First. She was most likely going to get a verbal whipping from her behaviour at the Central 46 minutes earlier. She had no doubt those pompous fools cowering behind paper screens could have ran crying to the Sōtaichō.

There was no way they could have found out about her involvement in the earlier escape.

She arrived at the Sōtaichō's office without much trouble and took a deep breath as she stood outside, waiting to be invited in. Deceiving was like breathing for her but the few times she had seen or just been in the near presence of the powerful Yamamoto, she had always had a inkling of a feeling like he could see past her façade. To face him with the knowledge that she was just as much a part of the grand escape and _treason _again the Soul Society as those who had just been exiled and placed on hit lists were unsettling. She would have to use the very best of her skills to stay safe from detection.

"You may enter," the powerful rumble of Yamamoto's voice rung out and a lesser person would have jumped and gotten sweaty palms from the mere sound. Fortunately Rin was not and instead chose to open the screens and casually stroll in as if she was taking a walk in the forest. She walked up and dropped on one knee according to customs, "You summoned me, Sōtaichō."

"Rin, Gundanchō of the Onmitsukidō..." She would never admit to her heart rate speeding up just a little bit as she waited for the following words. "You made quite a situation at the Central 46 chamber earlier today."

"I was doing nothing but following the rules, Sōtaichō," she replied evenly though on the inside the gave a sigh of relief.  
"Yes, so I've heard and by the end of the week, so will the rest of Seireitei. But that is not why I summoned you here. Now tell me, what do you think I should do with the current situation with the Second Division and the Onmitsukidō? I now have a military branch without a leader and a Gotei 13 Division without a Taichō."

It barely took a second to sort her thoughts through before answering, "Don't promote the Second Division Fukutaichō, his battle powers are not fit to lead anything. Find a new to lead the Onmitsukidō, a Gundanchō. Or take in another high ranking officer to lead the Second and split up the Second and the Onmitsukidō, unless the new leader can keep the line the former Sōshireikan did."

"Hmm. And why this separation?"

"They will blame each other, the Second Division and the Onmitsukidō. The Second will blame the Onmitsukidō for corrupting Shihōin to stray from the right path and the Onmitsukidō will do the same. Unless there is someone strong and intimidating enough to keep them in line, the mistrust will tear the union apart."

"Strong and intimidating you say... why not a strong and respected to lead?"

"No one can be trusted or respected after what has happened. Eleven high tanking officers are now exiled traitors. I know the Onmitsukidō way. A strong, unbending leader is the only thing that can keep the relationship between the Onmitsukidō and the Second from becoming chaos."

Even if she was looking at the floor, she could feel the old man looking at her with unblinking eyes and she once again felt as if he was trying to scrutinize her very soul. She heard the sound of clothes and muscles moving, "I had expected such an answer. Very well. Follow me."

She showed no signs of surprise but the gears in her head was speeding up once more. She had a nagging feeling as she followed the large frame and it was not a good one. It was a testament to her self control when she entered what turned out to be the main hall where the Captain's Council usually gathered. And it was not empty. The Taichō from the Thirteenth, Eight and Fourth were all present. They were all looking at her and the bad feeling grew worse. The fact that her face was bare did not exactly help, as foolish as it was. When the four oldest shinigami were gathered and you had done something bad, you were in deep shit. The Sōtaichō then turned around and looked gravely at her.

"Rin of the Onmitsukidō, you will now be performing the taishu.(1) If you pass, you will become Taichō of the Second Division and Sōshireikan of the Onmitsukidō. This is not an offer, it's an order. We already have too many leaderless Divisions, we do not need any further vulnerabilities. You will demonstrate your bankai. We as the witnesses will determine whether or not you are fit for the position. Begin."

On the outside, she nodded but on the inside, she was fuming. Now she had to deal with a scattered division, a black organisation in tatters and of course, all of the paperwork. Bloody hell, she should never have wished for more distracting paperwork. But she had no choice. An order was an order and an order from the Sōtaichō was a damn important one at that. She wanted to get it over with. She placed a finger loosely on the hilt of Kuraimaru and whispered, "Bankai."

She took notice of the anticipating faces of the others which turned various degrees of confused when it seemed like nothing had happened besides her sword and sheath. Rin decided to not care about appearances and let a full smirk spread on her face. A blink later, the hall was flooded with darkness. All the shadows, small and large, had turned pitch black and were moving as if they were alive. Rin raised a hand and waved it lazily in the direction of the shinigami. The shadows stretched to cluster in front of them and morphed into a large, hissing snake. It rose above them and it had to bend its body several times in order to fit into the otherwise high-lofted room. The snake opened its mouth to reveal long fangs. Feeling dramatic, she moved her fingers and the snake was pulled back, turning into a large bird instead. Rin could feel the rush of air pulling her clothes and hair as the shadow creature spread its gigantic wings behind her and let out a high screech. As much as she was enjoying the stunned look on the Thirteenth and Eight Taichōs faces and being able to a part of her actual powers for once, she sealed her bankai. The eagle burst and the shadows crawled away, turning smaller and clearer until everything was as it had been before. Minus the windswept look everyone in the room now had. She looked to the Sōtaichō whose expression had yet to change, his eyes still boring into her. He kept eye contact with her for a few seconds and never had Rin felt so small in the eyes of another, a feeling she was not familiar with and it made her more uncomfortable than words could describe. The seconds seemed to stretch forever, agonizingly slow until the old man finally closed his eyes for a second. He opened them and gave her a small incline of his head.

"Passed. You are now Rin, Sōshireikan and Taichō of the Second Division."

Then the Taichō of the Eight, the one she had previously met, broke into a smile, "My, my. I suppose this calls for a celebration."

* * *

(1): Captain's proficiency test

A/N: At some point, I was even questioning if I would ever update but I did and I'm glad I'm back. Apparently, the cure for writer's block is writing in hand. Why that took me half a year to figure out, I have no idea.

I tried to make up for the long wait by moving the plot along. Was it okay?

You can review to voice your opinions, thoughts, expectations or just whatever. I don't bite. In fact, reviews are my excuse to belt out "We Are The Champions" when nobody's home because writing this _is a challenge before all of the human race and I'll never looose!_ ... Lovely picture, ain't it?

Okay, I'll stop wasting space now.

Until next time.


	15. Flight

I haven't shamelessly promoted anything in a while – so check out my short prose/poem-thingy, _Three Generations of Betrayal_, if you want. I like to think it's quite all right. I also have another story up titled _Absolute._

Thought of the day: I'm a person. You're people. You actually bother to read the words I type. Wow.

* * *

Rin walked past the guards stationed around the Second Division grounds, for once not flashing by them with Shunpo; instead she was taking her time. The Shinigami she passed stopped to greet their superior respectfully. The guards were still but uneasy, tense shoulders and troubled eyes obvious to Rin. After the most recent developments, it was as if the liveliness and pace the Second Division usually paraded around with had been chopped off.

Not that she minded, as it meant less idiots being loud.

Since the discovery of the 'treachery' of ten high ranking officers, Seireitei had been in a disarray. Scratch that, everything had gone to pot. That gathering of Central 46 idiots did nothing to help the situation calm down, and they did nothing to make things easier for the Onmitsukidō or Rin herself. Being the commanding officer for two different divisions was a tough enough task on its own, ridiculously so, and adding fruitless interrogations, arrests, reports and investigations lead to nothing but hard-eyed, exhausted Onmitsukidō officers in all of the branches. Well, at least the interrogations were good for training her less experienced officers and Takeda in leading the Shinmongun. He had only asked for her advise a handful of times.

For Rin and the Onmitsukidō, the Central 46 instating martial law did not make much difference in their modus operandi. But for the Shinigami of the Second, it was as if they had lost their favourite toy or something equally pathetic. The policy had turned to arrest first, question later, accusations and wild theories alike were spreading like s disease, and Shinigami turned on one another like cornered animals. The cells of both the Shinmongun and the Maggot's Nest were getting close to full, something which had not happened since the great war against the Quincy all those years ago. Rin took at turn and sidestepped a scrawny-looking, clearly unseated, Shinigami, and she mentally sighed. Oh yes, it was guys like him who were going to take on Aizen. Lovely. She ignored the hasty though clumsy salute the Shinigami gave her. If only Yoruichi had not gone running after Urahara, that madman, Rin would not have had to deal with such incompetence. In truth, she had never cared much for leading. At the very least, though, the Sōtaichō had followed her advise and not merged the Second and the Onmitsukidō. Otherwise she would have had to spend her time running about, breaking up fights left and right. Rin could handle two divisions, even if one of them was made up by _I'm-fighting-for-the-good-of-all_, barely mediocre Shinigami, but not if she had to mingle them with her own officers. Yoruichi's idea was certainly interesting in thought, but strange at best and utterly impossible and stupid at worst (Rin being an advocate of the latter). So in order to spare herself the headache, she ignored anything related to morale and similar garbage whenever it came up within the Second, or left the matter to the Fukutaichō.

She arrived at her office and went inside to check on the Fukutaichō, whom Yoruichi had left behind. He looked up and gave Rin a half-hearted greeting before going back to counting the pile of money on his desk. She looked to her own and saw it stacked with papers. Papers, she knew had been on the Fukutaichō's. She frowned. She had spent all morning scanning through report from all of the Onmitsukidō divisions. She had yet to do any paperwork and there were still the tasks of checking in with the four Gundanchō, in particular all of the new First- and Second-in-command officers. She had to known the state of each part of the Onmitsukidō, the number of officers both on and off duty as well as who were on missions and where. She had created files of the information that could be given to the Gotei 13. Then she had to take care of matters relating to the Second Division oh, and _then _came the task of keeping an eye on Aizen.

And here the Fukutaichō was busy counting his money.

She restrained herself from smashing his ugly mug in, and honestly, it would have been nothing but an improvement.

"You," she addressed him. He looked up disinterestedly, clearly not recognizing the sharpness of her tone; Rin's eye twitched. She was _never _met with such a dismissive attitude. Fear, mistrust, grudging respect, but no one ever wrote her off. "Will have finished that stack of papers by the time I return. If I see or hear of you doing anything _but _paperwork before you've completed the task, you can consider yourself demoted to unseated. Enjoy."

She was gone with before the gaping blob of a man could formulate a reply. Some higher deity must truly hate her if she had to work with that fool. She did always have the option to send him back to the academy.

Then, as if to prove the thought of divine hate , on her way from the Second Division back to the Onmitsukidō, she met none other than the bespectacled brunette, Aizen Sōsuke himself. There he was, strolling about with his silver haired shadow.

All the gears in Rin's head screeched to a halt. She froze in her steps but to no avail. Aizen turned around, turned his captivating, _deceitful _face around gave her a piercing stare. Her fingers trembled with the effort to keep from creating hand seals but damn, there was no way she was giving that bastard the satisfaction of her crumbling even more. She returned his gaze evenly and with a strong façade and eyes narrowing. She tightened her jaw in response to the slight smile Aizen directed at her. Oh, that smile was so obviously mocking her and his eyes verdict deemed her pitiful. She could see it so very clearly; he knew that _she _knew he had seen her weakness, her body's disgraceful reaction to nothing but the mere presence of him.

Keep an eye on Aizen, they said. Easier said than done. Fools.

The man had been as squeaky clean as a bashful virgin during the whole aftermath. Keep an eye on what? Him going about his new Taichō business after he received Shinji's old position? As if that would do any good.

Bloody hell and damn it all to the very pits of the underworld but when his smile widened, she almost turned tails and escaped.

Rin was startled once the thought registered in her head.

Her? Run? From _him? _

He looked like a poster boy for academy recruitment She felt her blood pumping faster through her body and her muscles tense under the weight of his eyes. They were so _cold_, so very patronizing and arrogant. As if he was better. He had brains but what else? Even a beggar in the streets could manipulate, children learned it as soon as they could walk.

She raised her hand and gave him a mock-salute with two fingers. Nothing could beat the strength of her mind. She did not know much of his plans, of him, of anything really, but that was one thing she knew. People had tried to break it before and no curly-haired, four-eyed freak was going to be the one to do it. Over her dead body.

As if she had not endured enough, Aizen and his minion began stalking towards her with an air about him like a predator approaching its prey. Rin spent a quiet moment meditating about higher deities and the meaning of life and came to the conclusion that there were none.

The world simply existed to shit on her.

"Hello there, Rin-san," he greeted her and she was overtaken by a strong urge to both slit his throat him and get the hell out of there. Preferably in that order. "I'm surprised to see you out and about after... everything that's happened." Rin returned his friendly _fake _smile with a blank façade.

"Likewise." The silver-haired Shinigami behind him was intensely creeping her out although it was an excellent choice. No one would pay attention to Aizen's diddling about with that thing walking around. In a moment of momentarily brain collapse and apparently a lack of the desire to live, she decided it was a good thing to say straight to his face. The moment the words were out of her mouth, she wanted to put her foot in their place. Well partly. Watching Creep-o's smile falter, even if it was only the slightest, and Aizen's pleasant mask loose some of it's innocence was worth treading the line for.

"That's a bold observation." Aizen looked at her, expression back to before although Rin got the feeling she had amused him instead of insulting him.

"Yes, extremely bold. Pointing out the obvious takes a lot of courage."

"Careful there, Rin-san. I would hate for you to say something you will regret. And speaking of which, have you given more thought to our previous conversations? I always felt you and I had a, ah, quite _similar _view on things. Perhaps not exactly a common interest but commons views do make an excellent foundation for cooperation. It would be a waste if you chose wrongly and regret it later." _And I regret you ever opening your mouth. _"Because, what you want, deep down, no matter what it is... I can help you get it. And I always make sure my associates are well rewarded for their service."

_Y__ou really do love listening to yourself, don'__t you__. _"I doubt there's anything I want I can't get myself. What do you want from me?"

"Why, I thought I had made my intentions clear. I want you on my side but also... you, Rin-san, are quite like a puzzle to me. I find it_ interesting_. I believe we can achieve great things together."Aizen took a step closer which in turned made it necessary for Rin to crane her neck upwards because hell, there was no way she was backing away from him. She could almost feel his over-inflated ego taking up her breathing space.

"I'm not on your side. I'm on my own."

"Ah," He really needed to stop making that smile. The smile gave Rin a strange feeling in her stomach.

Like her intestines were punched and she wanted to vomit.

"And when the time comes, I'll know if we're on the same side or not?"

"You're a smart man. You'll know." Oh, how she wanted to wipe that look of his face and splatter it out all over the dirt path below their feet. Aizen did nothing but give that oh so mysterious smile of his.

Rin abruptly felt a stinging sensation of something clawing at her mind, attacking her barely-consciously held defences with massive force. _He cannot know, it's impossible! _She screeched to herself amidst the searing pain. She narrowed her eyes, frowning heavily with gritted teeth but held her internal ground. Then it stopped as suddenly as it had come. Aizen was still smiling but his eyes were different. She chose to look directly at his nose instead but she could still feel his smugness rolling off in waves.

"Indeed. Until we see each other again."

Aizen turned around and began walking away. His silver shadow turned around, grinned largely at Rin, and followed. She stood by herself for a few seconds before rushing away. It wasn't until she was hidden away in the trees on the Onmitsukidō grounds she stopped. She felt nauseous and cold sweat ran down her spine. She looked down at her hands and slammed her fist into the nearest branch with enough force to shatter it. It fell from the tree in fragments.

* * *

Time passed but not easily. Rin felt as if she was treading on hot coals without chakra. On edge every second of the day, always wondering, _expecting_ to be dragged off to the Central 46.

But time passed, and she continued running her divisions. Things began to calm down. Officers were promoted, prisoners were released from custody or 'retired from duty'. A law was put down by the Central 46, banning all mentions of the Great Betrayal. Rin had no idea who had named it such, but it had to be an idiot of epic proportions with a flair for drama. _The Great Betrayal. _It was sickening, watching Aizen slowly but steadily weave his webs around the people, webs which grew wider and stronger by the day. And watching the exiled officers become nothing. Their names and existence be erased.

Time passed, but the fire in her did not. Day after day, she could see Aizen would prowl through Seireitei, admired, and respected, and _trusted_, and day after day it was all Rin could do not to cleave his head from his shoulders in front of everyone. She could not stand his smile, so innocuous but poisonous. His eyes would find her, at the Taichō gatherings Yamamoto was annoyingly fond of, across the paths of Seireitei, everywhere she went, could see that glint behind the spectacles. In his eyes, she could see the Central 46 burn. If she ever wavered, all she needed was to close her eyes, and she would walk away from Aizen and his empty promises. A white mask, cold and grotesque, far too long for the face it hid was always there. Blood spatters, nightmarish visions of times long gone, screams and cries had been her companions ever since she first took up her sword, even before she had held Kizuken Kūseido for the first time. Now, that bony mask had joined the terrors, haunting her both day and night.

A smile had been behind that mask, wide and full of mischief. Now it was hidden behind that mask.

"Sōshireikan, I have the reports."

She opened her eyes to look at an officer from Keigun, if his uniform was anything to go by. She hadn't sensed him until he was just her office. She consciously had to keep from frowning at herself.

"Anything new, officer?"

"Nothing, Sōshireikan. Only low-level Hollow sightings and common rogues. When I was in the-"

"Thank you, officer, 'nothing' is adequate without your life story."

"Yes, Sōshireikan." He left as quickly and silently as he had come. _Fools, the lot of them._

There were mundane things to be done, duties expected of her, but she had no mind to do anything but slice everything apart. _The Central 46's doing a perfectly fine job of that themselves. _She closed her eyes.

There really was no point, any longer, was there? Following the Soul Society.

Being an obedient lap dog of spineless men stuck in the past. So much for being the good guys.

She recalled a conversation long ago and felt a corner of her mouth tug upwards.

_If you're killer being asked to submit to weaker killers..._

She needed to find Takeda. She stalled for a moment by the office door, glancing at the rolls of bandages which laid ready on the tabletop.

She looked at them, hesitating for just a moment before leaving.

Up and away she went, making her way to the entrance of the Shinmongun. She had worried for a second whether or not the entrance would still open op to her reiatsu. It did, with a high screech of metal against metal, and she walked briskly through the familiar corridors.

"Rin-Gundanchō?"  
She glanced to her right and saw an officer staring at her. "Murakami." she acknowledged and kept walking without missing a stride.

She turned left at the end of the corridor. It was so well-known to her. The walls, the cold, grey panels of metal and stone, draining out the sparse illumination from the evenly placed torches. She let her eyes feast on the walls, the way shadow was consumed by light, only to grow strong further down the wall, she took in all the shadows dancing, moving and curling up and down the even surfaces, like snakes writhing in the grass.

It seemed such a desolate, hostile place, so Spartan and clinical it was daunting for any one who was not a Shinmongun officer. For those, and for Rin as well even after the time away, it was a place of safety and comfort. Here they broke bones and minds but at the end of the day, it was the only place they could lay their weary heads to rest. For the prisoners the Shinmongun was the end of the road with no way out. For the officers, it was the place where they belonged. The outside world held nothing for them; the Shinmongun was for life. The barren building was the past, present and future, the identity and the goal.

_It will always be here, _she thought to herself and closed her eyes for a fleeting moment, and she lifted a hand and let her leather-gloved fingertips run across the wall. For one who never truly had had a home it was the closest thing to one she had had in a long time. She opened her eyes and let her hand falls, sliding forward down the halls once more. She halted in front of the entry way. Behind there, in the room no more different than the others around expect for the furnishings, there she had spent so much time. There she had carved her place in the new world, the world which had never suited her. She entered.

"Sōshireikan, what are..."

"If I had know you had feelings for me during you little drunken debauchery, it would have made a lot more sense."

"We agreed not to speak of that." Takeda looked amused and greatly annoyed at the same time.

"I agreed on nothing. I remember you nursing the most terrible hangover of the century and ordering me to never mention your terrible smooth talking ability ever again. I was simply enjoying your misery."

"This is why you don't have any friends."

Rin scoffed, "I'm the Sōshireikan. What would I need friends for?" Takeda gave a quiet chuckle.

"Strange considering how the leader is supposed to be below the subordinates."

Takeda did not reply for a while. Instead he was watching her in the same way she had seen him study tenacious prisoners. Intently, searchingly, pondering.

"Don't create too much paperwork."

Rin could not help herself. She let out a sharp, singular bark of laughter. "I _only_ live to please you, dear."

Takeda gave a wry smile in response. They both focused elsewhere, Takeda on her and Rin moved back a few steps to lean against the wall with one hand in her pocket and the other tapping an unknown rhythm against her thigh.

If the Gundanchōs and Gotei 13 folk were smart they would separate the Onmitsukidō and the Gotei 13 once more. Takeda would be the successor to the organisation and some other Fukutaichō from whichever Division would lead the Second. She doubted this possibility. They would most likely pick someone completely incompetent to steer the whole thing, like that tiny guard obsessed with Yoruichi.

There was a noise of cloth moving. She inclined her head to the left to see Takeda standing erect, saluting her. "It's been an honour, Gundanchō."

Gundanchō. Not Sōshireikan, Taichō or anything else. She casually saluted him back. Nothing else was needed.

She did not look back.

* * *

There was nothing especially foreshadowing about the day itself. Steel grey skies above, a light wind breezing through here and there. As a matter of fact, Rin's day had begun as unusually boring and dull. Mission reports, division reports, paperwork, cold trails, all the glories of being a leader. And here she was, a few hours past midday, on her knees in shackles before the Central 46. She flipped her head to get her hair out of the way. It made glaring at the paper screens in front of her considerably easier.

"I didn't know you lot had a thing for chains and voyeurism. Consider me surprised." When no reply came, she shrugged, awkwardly and with rattling chains. Humour is subjective.

"Mocking won't help you." The voice came from the upper left but she could not place its exact location.

"Well, it certainly made _me_ feel better."

"We will _not _tolerate this any further." _This seems terribly repetitive, _Rin commented to herself.

"Why all the fuss? We're having a nice chat, us and I."

"_Enough._"

_Now there's some character. _It seemed someone had finally reached the end of their patience, probably one she had jabbed at at some earlier session. That conclusion did not narrow it down a whole lot. Just as Rin had decided which warped insult to throw back at them next, a tidal wave of murmurs rose all around her. She discreetly tried to catch a sight of the spectacle but her vision was blocked by the guards lined around her.

"This seems unproductive," a voice rumbled the entrance. Rin did not need to see behind the screens covering her foolish jury to know they had been stunned into silence. did she need to look back to know just who exactly the voice belonged to.

_Bugger it all to hell and back. _Rin's jaw was tight and her eyes were staring intently ahead of her, seeing nothing. She could take on the lot of guards the Central 46 had employed and whoever stragglers from nearby division whom might come by but there were limits, even for her. She needed to be clever about the new situation; she should have considered the possibility but _no, _of course she was too arrogant to think there would be any problems along the way. _Bloody bugger it all._ Even if she had had access to her full reserves of power, the fight would be a challenge.

The Sōtaichō was not the type to wander around and from Rin's limited encounters with him, he was not prone to leave the First Division grounds unless the matter was of considerable importance. There he was though, making his way with the magnetic gravity of his mere presence to stand in front of her.

She looked up at him without flinching or changing her expression.

"I hear you're not being very cooperative, Sōshireikan."

"Can't imagine where you've heard that. Being thrown in shackles without knowing what you're being tried for usually gives such a desire to cooperation."

The Sōtaichō did not look amused. "You may want to rethink your strategy. You have grave accusations hanging over your head."

"Well, I wouldn't know. No one has told me the charges in the two seconds since I told you I had _not_ heard them."

Rin knew she was threading thin ice and that it was melting far too quickly beneath her feet. But to hell with that. She would not cower. _No one makes a coward out of me._ The look the Sōtaichō gave her was full of disapproval and coldness.

"Read out the charges."

"Yes, Sōtaichō," someone cleared their throat. "Rin, Sōshireikan of the Onmitsukidō, Second Division Taichō, you have been charged with the following: Aiding in illegal experiments of the process known as Hollowfication. Aiding exiled convicts. Smuggling exiled convicts out of the Soul Society using unauthorized means."

Rin raised an eyebrow every know and then as the list continued. It sounded flattering when it was read aloud like that. Some of the incidents clearly had nothing to do with her, but she supposed they might as well use her as a scapegoat to close the cases. Economic investigation and trial.

"...counts of murder. Three counts of attempted murder. Using unnecessary force and inflicting grave injuries upon innocent civilians and comrades..."

"Oh please, as if you lot haven't given me the task," she sneered. _Get to the point already, everyone knows this is a farce. __Or perhaps not_, she added as she noticed a guard to her left shifted away from her. She smiled and could feel her scar shifting freely without the bandages she normally wore. She must seem terrible to such pure,innocent guards.

"... of evidence. That is all. And now for the verdict."

"If I had planned on defending myself, I would be offended," she said loftily to no one in particular.

She was judged guilty, no surprise there. She was hauled to her feet when she began laughing. It was quiet, chuckles. The guards stopped and hesitated.

"Look, I'm sorry to ruin your schedule," she stopped laughing and stood straight, casually craning her neck side to side. "But I don't really fancy solitary confinement for the next thousands of years. Nothing to make fun of you see."

"Take her away and _shut her up." _

Rin was outright laughing now.

"You're awfully confident for a man hiding behind a paper screen. It's been fun, my dear, little ones, but I don't really feel like entertaining you any longer."

"_Guards, remove this traitor__!_"

Rin raised an eyebrow but firmly held her ground as the guards tried to pull her away. She had stopped laughing and gave a predatory grin to the Shinigami in front of her.

"Enough games," she blasted her shackles off in a burst of colour and head. Even if they had blocked her reiatsu, they could not block her chakra. "_Try to force me now__!_"

Everything from there was a tumult of fighting, shouting and clanging metal. She made a quick work of her surrounding guards. One managed to get a nick on her shoulder but she was quickly making her way across the steps. She took out a few of the Central 46 members on her way, just for good measure. She cut, slashed, stabbed, block, parried and dodged her way further away, towards the door. She just needed to get, out of the compound and then she could take off. She kicked a body behind her with enough force to feel the bones break beneath her leather sole. Our of the corner of her eye she noticed the Sōtaichō was beginning moving in her direction.

_Out. Out now._

She doubled her speed and flew through through the bodies which had blocked her way out. She could feel the sun on her skin and the wind chilling her but there was no time to breathe.

A wave of Shinigami were rushing towards her, coming from the Direction of the Gotei 13.

_This is __getting too __bloody crowded. _

She took out some fools who had barely raised their swords and reappeared on the roof of the compound.

More Shinigami were pouring into the area with brandished weapons, some confused and others angry. Rin turned just in time to deliver a kick to an attacker behind her. The woman grabbed her foot – _I'm getting slower – _but Rin pushed off the surface, rolled in the air and caught the woman's head between both of her feet before slamming it into the roof tiles below them. She pushed away from the corpse and drew Kuraimaru up to block a heavy blow which would have cleaved her arm in two.

She was not sure her plan would work; it was far more possible that she would end up in pieces than where she wanted to. But she could not stay, she could not escape any other way. She threw back an oncoming batch of Shinigami with a blast of unnamed kidō, but it wasn't strong enough to do more than knock a few out and singe some skin here and there. _Screw that bloody kidō._

She sensed around her. Far too many were showing up too quickly. Her strikes became faster but where she had to raise the same legs and arms over and over again, fresh Shinigami kept throwing themselves at her.

_I can't keep this up forever._ But she needed time to get away. She caught the eyes of the Sōtaichō once more after creating a fountain of blood of some older lad with a poor defence. She raised her voice.

"When you realise just how bloody wrong-" she cut off to take out too Shinigami who rushed towards her. Their swings were too wide and she easily slid through their guards and delivered clean deaths. "You've been," More blood, another body. "I won't lift _a finger_ to help you."

_If this doesn't work..._

Then, almost in irony, she dodged the swing of a blade, crossed her two index fingers and vanished. A red sea of carnage remained behind.

* * *

It was dark

Maybe it was because her eyes were closed, maybe it was night. Maybe she was truly and finally dead.

Rin did not know.

All she knew in that moment was _pain._

_It burns. __Fire._

Colours replaced the darkness. Angry red and yellow shades blotched with blues and greens. A mass of swirling shapes and sounds.

_Hurts, hurts, it hurts._

_I won't tell you a thing._

She could feel her joints pop out of place, could feel the tears ripping into her arms, her legs, everywhere.

_A chair beneath her, __cackles __from somewhere behind her.__Metal, she could feel it going through her thigh. It hit a nerve. She screamed and felt her throat tear._

There was something beneath her. Or above her. Maybe she was floating but floating was not this painful.

_Pain._

_Rin, get up._

_I don't, I can't._

The voices and colours changed but nothing was recognisable. She knew nothing but she felt everything.

_Let's get out of here. __An arm around her, her feet dragging across something or maybe a someone. Hiroki?_

Someone was screaming, a high, shrill cry of pure agony.

Maybe it was her.

_She's here._

It seemed different, the noise.

_Get up._

_Leave me, don't touch me.__ Don't-_

Pain, only pain.

_You're not dying here._

_Kill, just kill me, I can't... I won't._

She was falling, growing numb and darkness mercifully claimed her once more.

* * *

A/N: Disoriented character equals confused reader. Teehee.

The truth is I just lost interest in this for a long, long while. I hope I haven't butchered this chapter out of frustration.

You can expect interesting things in the next one; more character work and stuff. Until next time.


End file.
